


Little Empires

by bethonie (Formula_Tea)



Series: Little Empires [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: AU, Family, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, super powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-21 13:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 48,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2469698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Formula_Tea/pseuds/bethonie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Williams siblings need each other and Claire's been trying to find the third child for a while, desperate to bring Valtteri back to his usual self after the destructive influence of the last power possessor they tried, when she stumbled across Rob. The family connection was there. Rob's been trying to find a place he and Felipe fit, knowing Felipe doesn't belong at Ferrari, when he finds Claire. Both of their problems seem to be solved. If only the children would see this...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Are they here yet?

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a story where the Williams team was one big happy family. Nobody would write it. So I had to.  
> I made the drivers kids, because I could. Valtteri and Felipe are around mid teens (as far as I know), and Susie a little younger.  
> I didn't mean for them to have powers when it started, but they do, so deal with it.  
> :D

“Are you ok?” Rob asks, not looking at the boy in the passenger seat of his car whilst they wait at the traffic lights.

Felipe would have his knees tucked up to his chin if the seat belt would allow it. As it is, he’s got his head rested on the widow, a hand pushed between them with the other having its nails chewed off. Felipe isn’t looking at Rob either, watching rain trickle down the window.

“I’m fine.”

Rob doesn’t know what to say. Whenever he catches a look at Felipe, he always has a smile on his face, but it doesn’t reach his eyes, and Rob knows he can’t make that any better. He’s tried explaining how much better this will be for him, but it hasn’t worked yet and Rob doesn’t think it’s going to work any time soon. Felipe just nods and agrees now. He’s given up arguing. If he’s honest, Rob’s a little scared.

“You’ll be better off here,” Rob says, because he has no idea what else to say. “They’ll understand you better here.”

“Know this,” Felipe says with a small laugh. “Have already said this all before.”

“Like you listen,” Rob says.

The boy laughs again, and Rob can practically hear his heart breaking, but he knows that, as soon as they get to the Williams House, Felipe will feel a lot better. After all, it’s home.

 

“Come away from the window Susie,” Claire says with a sigh. When she looks up from her magazine, Susie still has her nose pressed against the window, net curtain cast aside in order to get a better look.

“I’m going to be the first outside,” Susie declares for the hundredth time. “I’ll be the first one they meet and then I’ll be their favourite.”

“They’re not due to get here for another hour,” Claire says, putting her magazine down. “Get away from the window.”

Susie sighs over dramatically and comes out from behind the net curtain, her nose red from being pressed against the glass. Claire can’t help but laugh. It hasn’t taken Susie long to get over the fact that she still won’t have a sister, and she was still the youngest, and everything else she had moaned about when Claire had first told her about Felipe. Valtteri, on the other hand…

Valtteri’s still sat in the corner, quietly reading, but Claire heard him in the night, crying again. He’s already made it perfectly clear he didn’t want her to be in there, even if she could comfort him somehow. It isn’t that she’s given up trying. Valtteri just needs a different kind of comfort. One that doesn’t involve smothering hugs or really bad jokes. Claire silently hopes Felipe will be good for him. Or Rob. Or _anybody_. He hasn’t been the same since Pastor left. Said he doesn’t want to be hurt again. If she was honest, she doesn’t blame him.

Susie’s still fidgeting, sat away from the window now but still craning her neck to try to see outside.

Claire sighs again. “Why don’t you go round to Toto’s? See if he wants to play?”

Susie shakes her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Then go and see if granddad wants a cup of tea,” Claire says. “Sat there waiting won’t make them come any faster.”

“Yeah but…”

“Go and do as you’re told,” Claire says

Susie groans loudly and obviously, dramatically marching out of the living room and up the stairs and grumbling under her breath.

“I heard that young lady.”

The following, slightly louder grumble focuses on the negatives of having a parent with stupid super hearing before the moaning stopped.

Claire sighs and turns her attention to Valtteri.

“That’ll give us peace and quiet for five minutes, hey?” she says, trying to prompt a smile.

There’s no reaction. He doesn’t even look up from the book.

“It’ll be ok, you know,” Claire prods. She can see how much pain Valtteri’s in and it physically hurts her. Her connection with him is strongest of all the children, but she doesn’t seem to be able to do anything about it. Williams children need their siblings, she reminds herself. That is why they were so desperate to find the third child, desperate enough to convince themselves that Pastor was right just so Valtteri wouldn’t feel like this. Looking back, that had probably done more damage than if they had just left him alone. But it was too late to change that now. “Things are going to get better.”

“You said that last time,” Valtteri says, and Claire’s so shocked he actually spoke that she’s not sure how to react.

“We made a mistake last time,” she says carefully. “But it’s not going to happen again. It hasn’t happened this time, I promise.”

Valtteri sighs and turns the page in his book.

They should have known someone as damaging as Pastor wasn’t one of them, but they’d just been so desperate to fix Valtteri’s moods…

Susie bounces back down the stairs.

“Are they here yet?”

“Does granddad want any tea?” Claire asks, standing in preparation for the inevitable ‘yes’.

“Yeah,” Susie says quickly. “Are they here yet?”

Valtteri rolls his eyes and pulls the book closer, as if that would make Susie’s enthusiasm dull a little.

“They will get here when they get here Susie,” Claire says. “Come on. You can take the tea up to granddad.”


	2. They're here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look! Another chapter...

The house looks like any other house, Felipe thinks as the car pulls up alongside it. They must have passed at least a million like it on the long trip here from Italy. Detached, in a pristine little garden of its own, with at least three floors. It doesn’t _feel_ like home, like Rob keeps telling him it will. It looks anonymous. It doesn’t mean anything.

“Are you ok?” Rob asks again. The question’s lost its meaning now. If he says no, Rob will repeat the same lecture about this being home. About this being where he belonged. If he says yes, Rob will know he is lying and tell the lecture again.

Felipe just smiles. “Are we going outside or do I have to sleep in the car?”

 

“They’re here!” Susie squeals, practically leaping from the window position she had been stood in for the past half an hour to get to the door before anyone else could.

Claire sighs and puts her magazine down again. “You’re going to scare them off if you act like that,” she calls after her.

Valtteri doesn’t even look up from the book he’s been reading all day. Claire bites her lip, wondering not for the first time if they’d rushed into this as well. It’s only been a few months since Pastor left. Valtteri had been hurt by him more than anybody. But Rob had been insistent. And keeping the pair of them separate for any longer than necessary was less than ideal.

Claire doesn’t bother to notify her father of the new arrival. It’s easy to imagine him sitting at his own bedroom window with as much excitement as Susie, and if he isn’t then Susie’s squealing has probably announced the arrival well enough. Instead, she follows Susie into the hallway and unhooks the chain that is too high for Susie to reach.

Rob’s halfway up the garden path when the door opens, Felipe a little way behind him, and a bouncing ball of purple flies from the house and down to meet them, Clair calling after her. Felipe’s almost knocked over by the whirlwind and instinctively moves closer to Rob. Rob laughs, trying to keep the nervousness from showing, and puts an arm around Felipe as he leads both him and Susie back to the house.

Susie has about a million questions but she’s speaking too fast for Felipe to hear what any of them are. He can only make out his own heart beat pounding in his chest and he doesn’t like it, or the way Susie wraps her arm around his as if they’ve been friends for years. He doesn’t like how natural she finds this when he… he shouldn’t even be in this country. This isn’t home.

“Let’s get you in out of the rain,” Claire says with what she hopes is a calming smile as soon as they’re close enough to hear.

Felipe offers her what _he_ hopes is the smile of someone who is completely calm but he doesn’t quite pull it off.

“Susie, shush,” Claire says once everyone’s inside and in the dry. “Don’t make me get granddad to make you quiet.”

Susie falls quiet instantly, kicking the floor and mumbling a sorry.

“Alright,” Claire says. “I’m… Let’s go into the living room so you can sit down before we bombard you with names, hey? I’m sure Rob’s already told you lots, right?”

“Has said a little,” Felipe admits. He can’t say he really pays much attention.

“Well, come on then,” Claire says, pulling Susie behind her as she makes her way into the living room. “I’ll introduce everyone then make some tea.”

“They drink a lot of tea here,” Rob murmurs into Felipe’s ear as he guides them into the living room. “You’ll have to get used to that.”

Frank has already appeared downstairs, having taken Claire’s favourite chair just to wind his daughter up. His face brightens when Rob and Felipe walk in and Claire’s heart skips a beat.

“This is my dad, Frank,” Claire said, waving a hand at the elderly man with the huge smile. Rob jumped forward to shake his hand, but Frank pulls him down into an odd one armed hug.

“I thought you Italians were supposed to be affectionate,” Frank laughs when he lets Rob go.

“I’m not actually Italian,” Rob says, blushing a little, as he steps back. “From up north.”

“You’ve wasted enough time there, though, hey?” Claire laughs. “Felipe?”

Felipe shuffles out from behind Rob but still manages to get closer to him. He gives a small wave and that unsettled-hopefully-calm-looking smile. “Hello.”

He doesn’t think he’s ready for hugs. Frank seems to understand. His grin only widens and he waves back.

“And this is Susie,” Claire says, gesturing to Susie as if they can’t guess who she was referring to. “She’s a little excited.”

“Am not,” Susie lies.

Rob laughs. “Hi, Susie.”

“And this is Valtteri,” Claire says

Felipe frowns, searching the room for the other person Claire is speaking about, but he doesn’t find anybody. Claire can’t help the small smile at his confusion.

“Valtteri,” she says.

From his spot in the corner, Valtteri stands, carefully marking his place in the book before setting it down. He gives an odd half smile as he comes out from his hiding place but he knows it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t want to be there. If there’s any consolation, it’s that the kid who’s supposed to be his brother doesn’t look all that confident either.

“And this is Valtteri,” Claire says again.

“Moi,” he says with a small wave of the hand.

Felipe’s still struggling to get over the fact the boy appeared from nowhere, the surprise clear on his face. He doesn’t notice that he’s shuffled a little away from Rob. Rob does.

“Hello,” Rob says when Felipe doesn’t speak. “Neat trick.”

“Thanks,” Valtteri mumbles, slightly embarrassed by the way Felipe is staring at him still. He wishes he could really make himself invisible but, once somebody’s noticed him, it’s hard to make them not notice.

“Right then,” Claire says. “Oh, should probably introduce myself. I’m Claire. Hi.”

Felipe’s eyes are still on Valtteri. He doesn’t even seem to have noticed she’s spoke.

Rob sighs and grins. “Don’t worry. He does that a lot. So, tea?”


	3. Tea

Claire and Rob go to make tea and Frank disappears back upstairs. Felipe isn’t as shocked at the elderly man’s teleportation as he is by Valtteri’s ability. He’s stopped staring at Valtteri now, but his eyes flicker back to him every couple of seconds. Valtteri smiles uncomfortably and wants nothing more than to go back to his book, but he knows that isn’t going to be allowed once Claire comes back with the tea.

“Moi,” he says again. “It’s Finnish.”

Felipe nods. “I know,” he says, eyes on the floor so he doesn’t start staring at Valtteri again. “Have a… used to know a Finnish boy.”

“Oh, yeah,” Valtteri says quietly, also looking at the floor. They’re not allowed to talk about before. He and Susie have been given a very stern lecture about this and Valtteri isn’t sure why before is such a bad thing to talk about, but he doesn’t want to find out why.

But he can’t think of anything else to say.

Luckily, Susie can.

“Can you do magic too?” Susie asks. “Well, it’s not magic. Not really. But do you have powers? Like Valtteri and Mum and Granddad?”

It’s the first time Valtteri can remember being thankful for his sister’s inquisitive nature. Felipe doesn’t look all that thankful. He nods, once, but looks as if he might be sick.

“That’s so cool!” Susie cries. “I can’t wait until my powers come through. Mum says they come through faster with boys. That’s so not fair.”

Felipe looks to Valtteri for some kind of saviour but he offers none.

“I’m going to my room,” he says instead, picking up his book.

“But _Val_ ,” Susie complains, grabbing her brother’s arm. Both boys physically cringe. “You can’t go yet.”

“Have work to do,” Valtteri mumbles, pulling out of Susie’s grip. “Claire will call me down for dinner.”

“Valtteri Bottas you are not going anywhere,” Claire calls in from the kitchen.

“See,” Susie whispers with a grin. That would have gotten her a shove back home, Felipe thinks. This isn’t home. He can’t pretend it is.

 

“I can’t help worrying,” Claire says whilst she waits for the kettle to boil. “What if we’ve left him too long?”

“It’ll be fine,” Rob says, even though that’s exactly what he’s been thinking the entire journey here. “It’ll take some getting used to, it’s a completely different environment here, but we’ll be fine. We belong here.”

Claire smiles and nods, pouring water into the cups when the kettle finally boils, but she can’t stop the flicker of doubt in the back of her mind. What was she expecting, though? Instant connection? It isn’t entirely ridiculous. That was how it had been when she had first met Rob, after all. “Rescued him”, Rob says. That definitely isn’t the case here.

“Just give him some time,” Rob insisted, taking the kettle from Claire because her hands were shaking so badly. “He’s just a little nervous, that’s all.”

“I just don’t want to see Valtteri hurt again,” Claire says.

“And I don’t want to see Felipe hurt again,” Rob replies. “This is right. I promise.”

 

When they eventually come back into the living room, Valtteri is back in his corner with his book, Felipe is sat uncomfortably on the sofa with Susie next to him, trying her best at not annoying either of her brothers.

Claire places the tray of drinks on the coffee table and stands back to let everyone take their drinks, but nobody moves.

She sighs. “We know this is going to be difficult for you guys, but it’s for the best.”

Still, nobody moves.

“You know the best way to get to know each other is by talking,” Rob reminds them. “And I know you’re capable of that, Felipe.”

Felipe looks up at him and smiles a little.

Susie sighs as if they’re all idiots and takes her Ninja Turtles mug off of the tray, carefully bouncing back to her spot on the sofa and looking between the others for some kind of recognition of her ability to be a grown up. Rob grins down at her. Across the room, Valtteri uncertainly stands.

“It’s not poisoned,” Rob says.

A small half smile is pushed onto Valtteri’s face and he takes the mug he knows is Felipe’s and hands it to him before taking his own and retreating back to his corner.

“Thank you,” Felipe says, quietly, not drinking the drink.

“What powers do you have?” Susie asks.

Felipe shuffles uncomfortably and looks up to Rob for help. Rob just smiles and nods.

“It’s ok,” he says. “They’re not going to judge you for it.”

“I… erm, make things slower,” Felipe mumbles, kicking his feet against the floor.

“That explains why Ferrari didn’t want you,” Valtteri says before he can stop himself.

“They did want me,” Felipe snaps. “But I just didn’t fit there.”

“Valtteri,” Claire hisses.

“Sorry,” Valtteri says. “Forgot.”

He’s no idea why he said it: it really did just come out. Maybe.

“Yes, well,” Claire says, watching as Rob sits beside Felipe. “Maybe you two should go and show Felipe his room whilst Rob and I get their bags?”

Valtteri nods, chewing the inside of his mouth, even though this is the last thing he wants to do, and he’s almost certain that Felipe feels the same way. Felipe turns instinctively to Rob, but Rob just nods too. Susie’s bouncing about, her mug of tea now empty, and she pulls Felipe up with her, racing ahead of her brothers, who follow in silence and with a lot less enthusiasm.

 _They’re going to be fine_ , Rob has to tell himself again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this working for you guys?


	4. Concentrations of unhappy thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things aren't going as well as Rob and Claire had hoped. Everybody isn't instantly happy, though that couldn't really have been expected...

“And this is your room,” Susie says, giddily.

It isn’t, Valtteri thinks. This is still Pastor’s room. Susie and Claire have spent weeks gutting it and redecorating. An entire skip was needed for the water damaged furniture and carpets and wallpaper that Pastor left behind. Valtteri hadn’t been involved in all that. He didn’t want to be. The last time he was in here isn’t a happy memory and, even though the room is nothing like he remembers it being when Pastor was living there, the memory still hits him as he crosses the threshold, so hard he almost cries out.

It isn’t, Felipe thinks. His room is back home and, no matter what Rob keeps trying to convince him, this isn’t home. But there’s another boy living in his room now, he knows. He wonders if they fort over who got the bigger room, but he tries to put that out of his mind.

“Well?” Susie says, when neither of her brothers react.

“Thank you,” Felipe says, quietly. He can’t think of anything else to say.

“Do you like it?” Susie prods.

“Come on,” Valtteri says, taking his sister and shepherding her out of the room. “I think he wants to be alone.”

Felipe doesn’t say anything as Valtteri pulls Susie out of the room, closing the door as quietly as he can behind them. He doesn’t move at all, staring at the blank canvas he’s been left with. This is a fresh start. A start where nothing that happened back home matters. He can’t even count how many times he’s wished for that, but this isn’t how he imagined it.

First there had been Michael. He’s probably the closest thing Felipe has had to a real brother. Maybe Ferrari had kept him so long because there had been a connection there. They’re always looking for connections. The only way you can tell if your part of a ‘family’ is if there’s a connection and Felipe had been sure – everyone had been sure – there was one between him and Michael.

Then Michael had grown up and left him.

Then there was Kimi. And there had definitely not been a connection. Sometimes these things aren’t immediate. But it was obvious something was wrong. Looking back now, they made the wrong decision. They’ve seen their mistake now, but it’s a little late. They got rid of the wrong child, probably because of the connection with Michael, and then there was Fernando.

Fernando was fun. He had felt like a brother. It had _felt_ right. To him… for a little while…

Fernando must have thought differently.

Fernando hadn’t felt a connection. When they asked Fernando, he said-

“You shouldn’t be thinking about that,” Rob says, placing a gentle hand on Felipe’s shoulder.

Felipe hadn’t even heard him come in, but it doesn’t surprise him. If there’s one thing he can count on, it’s that Rob will be there. Rob will always be there.

Until he isn’t.

“Stop that,” Rob says, seriously. “Come and help with these bags. There’s one on the landing.”

Rob smiles again, his hand still on Felipe’s shoulder, and Felipe can’t help but smile back.

“Will go and get the bag,” Felipe says, quietly.

 

Valtteri’s watching through the small crack in his bedroom door, keeping himself unnoticeable as Rob and Claire make their way up the stairs. He doesn’t know if he should have left Felipe on his own, but he couldn’t stand to be in there any longer, not after everything that happened. Maybe Claire really did think she could paint over the walls and bring in a new kid and it would make everything better. Sometimes Valtteri doubts if he really belongs here, because Claire doesn’t seem to understand him at all.

Claire dumps the bag she’s carrying on the landing and tells Rob that she’s going to bring another one up before disappearing back downstairs. Valtteri watches as Rob turns to go to the bedroom at the end of the hall, but stops, dropping the bag. He turns and his eyes fall on Valtteri.

“I’m not going to bite, you know,” he says with a small laugh.

Valtteri’s so shocked he almost falls from his hiding place. He steps aside to let Rob into his room without even thinking.

“You saw me?”

“I heard you,” Rob says, tapping his head in explanation.

 _Great_ , Valtteri thinks, _can’t even have some privacy in my own thoughts._

Rob laughs at the frown on Valtteri’s face. “It’s not like I read your thoughts. Just emotions. I can tell when there’s a big concentration of unhappy thoughts and where it is. Right now there are two big concentrations of unhappy thoughts up here.”

Valtteri glances over Rob’s shoulder at the still closed door across the hall. There isn’t any way he can think to answer that. He knows, of course, how his brother is feeling. It’s hard not to notice when he’s just stood there with a face like that.

“What’s got you like this then?” Rob asks. “I must warn you: I’m not all that good at guessing.”

Valtteri shrugs. He doesn’t want to talk about it. What good had that done with Claire?

“Is it me?” Rob asks. He’s been so worried about Felipe fitting in, he hasn’t had time to worry about how the others will feel about him. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m nervous about this whole thing too. I’ve never been part of a family before.”

Valtteri looks up at him and frowns. “But… before?”

Rob shakes his head. “I was just a tutor before. So this is all new to me. You’ll have to tell me if I’m doing something wrong.”

“Have… have only ever had Claire,” Valtteri admits, sitting on the edge of his bed. “Well, I had real parents, sort of. But I don’t get to see them anymore. Why am I saying this?”

Rob laughs and sits on the bed beside him. “You’re asking the wrong person. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, though.”

He says this, but he can already feel the teenager’s thoughts aren’t so dark. It makes Rob buzz a little and, if he wasn’t certain he belonged here before, he is now.

“There’s only ever been Claire as the ‘parent’,” Valtteri says, making quotation marks with his fingers. “And she’s good but…” He sighs and shrugs. “Don’t know.”

“That’s ok,” Rob says. “You don’t have to say anything. Just… you don’t have to hide yourself, either. I’m here if you want to talk and, if you don’t, that’s ok.”

Valtteri gives him a smile that stretches his face a little and Rob beams back.

“Right, I’m going to sort out these bags. Do you want me to shut the door on my way out?”

Valtteri nods once. He almost always has the door shut, as Susie has a tendency to wonder in when it’s open.

Rob finds Claire stood on the landing when he leaves the bedroom.

“Thank you,” she mouths, placing the last of the bags on the landing before disappearing back downstairs and leaving Rob to deal with the second bundle of unhappy thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think! Am a couple of chapters ahead of you, and I like this story, but it's not what I usually write so it would be nice to know if this is going ok...


	5. Fitting in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a short chapter, but I wanted it on its own.

“Boys! Dinner’s ready! Come down!”

Susie is already at the table, grinning whilst she watches Claire dish up the dinner. She hasn’t seen Claire so happy since before Pastor left and for the first time in she doesn’t know how long she feels like she’s part of a family again.

Valtteri is the first down the stairs, unusually unshielded and with an odd smile on his face. It’s obviously forced, but he never even makes that much of an effort. Claire grins back and him and a pale pink blush starts to appear in his cheeks. He takes his ueual seat opposite his sister, tucking his legs under the chair to stop them getting in the way of Susie’s swinging legs.

“Are you alright?” Claire asks, sitting once the food is served.

Valtteri nods once, his hands gripping his chair when Claire smiles at him. He forces a smile back.

They wait in silence for Felipe to come down, not even noticing the fact that Frank hasn’t joined them for dinner either. Rob’s fighting the urge to jump up and see to him, trying to remind himself to not exclude the others. Felipe isn’t just _his_ anymore, just like he isn’t just Felipe’s. He’s always known that was going to take some getting used to, but with Felipe in this state…

Ten minuets of silence pass and Rob’s about to get up when Claire stands.

“I’ll go and fetch him,” she says, trying to reassure the others with her smile as much as herself. “Gosh, Rob, you could have mentioned he was going to be high maintenance.”

 

Frank listens from above as Claire calls for dinner, and follows one set of footsteps from Valtteri’s bedroom down the stairs. There is not another set.

He sighs and, when nobody comes up the stairs, decides to sort it out himself.

Felipe is surprisingly unphased when the elderly man appears next to him on the bed. _The_ bed. Not his bed. His stuff still lies around him, waiting to be unpacked. The room still feels bare and empty.

“Dinner’s ready,” Frank says, trying to catch Felipe’s eye, but Felipe’s almost as good at not making eye contact as Valtteri.

“Heard this,” Felipe said. “Am not hungry.”

“Might be nice to go down and tell them this,” Frank says. “They’re probably waiting for you.”

“Won’t be.”

“You never know,” Frank says. “What’s the matter?”

Felipe rolls his eyes and wonders how many times he’s going to be asked that. If there was one good thing about being at Ferrari, it was that everyone already knew what was the matter.

He shrugs, because he can’t be bothered to explain again.

Frank waits in silence.

And waits.

Felipe sighs and stands. “I don’t want to be here.”

“Why not?” Frank asks. He doesn’t sound hurt. He doesn’t sound angry. He sounds as if he’d actually _encouraging_ him and Felipe isn’t sure if this is a trick or not.

He shrugs again. “I… I just want to fit in,” he mumbles. “Thought I fitted in at Ferrari… but they didn’t want me.”

Frank sighs and smiles sadly. “Wait here a second.”

Frank disappears and Felipe sits back down on the bed. He hasn’t even had a chance to sink back into his own thoughts, though, before Frank reappears, holding an old children’s toy: a wooden box with different shaped holes cut into the side. Ignoring Felipe’s confused face, Frank opens the box and tips the wooden shapes inside onto the bed before closing the box.

“Right then,” he says, taking the circle. It was once painted green but the paint has faded. He takes Felipe’s hand and puts the circle in it. “Try putting it in the square hole.”

“Won’t fit,” Felipe says without even trying.

“Just try it.”

He does. He presses the circle against the hole and, as predicted, it doesn’t fit. He looks up at Frank, waiting for some kind of explanation.

Frank just laughs. “You’re not trying very hard.”

“It won’t fit,” Felipe says.

“You know this?”

“ _Yes_.”

“Alright, try another hole.”

Felipe pushes the block through the circle hole and shrugs. Frank is still smiling.

“Take the cube and try the square hole.”

Felipe rolls his eyes, but does as he’s told. Suprisingly enough, the cube goes through the hole and joins the cylinder on the inside of the box.

“Now,” Frank says, patting the top of the box. “What’s the purpose of this?”

“I have no idea,” Felipe says, honestly. Whatever it is, he hopes it’s finishes soon so he can be left alone again.

“No, I mean, why would somebody buy this toy?” Frank asks.

“For a child to play with?” Felipe asks, uncertainly.

“Yep,” Frank says. “And does the cube you put in the square hole help to achieve that purpose?”

Felipe shrugs. “Suppose.”

“And the cylinder?”

“Yeah…” Felipe says.

“But are they the same?”

“No…”

“But they have the same purpose? And they both achieve that?”

Felipe sighs when he finally understands what Frank is trying to tell him. He shakes his head but puts on a small smile. It was creative, he’ll allow that. Nobody has tried this way of explaining to him before. But, once again, they’ve missed the point entirely.

“Are you hungry yet?” Frank asks.

“Maybe a little,” Felipe lies.

“Race you downstairs,” Frank says, before disappearing again, leaving the baby toy on Felipe’s bed. Felipe picks it up, listening as the cube and the cylinder rattle inside. He wishes it really was that simple.


	6. The hot chocolate

Valtteri can’t help the small pang of jealously as, over dinner, Rob watches Felipe. Neither Felipe nor Valtteri speak all meal, but Susie makes up enough for both of them, explaining in great detail every aspect of her life, from which powers she thinks it would be coolest to have to the fact her and Toto are going to be ‘best friends forever’, which Valtteri thinks is a little creepy but doesn’t mention. Felipe doesn’t even seem to be listening, he notices, barely eating and not really even there. Nobody else mentions it, even though Valtteri’s certain Rob has noticed it to, so he keeps quiet and eats.

“Hopefully it’ll finish raining soon,” Claire says when Susie has run out of things to say and begun to repeat herself. “You must be used to nicer weather than this.”

“Quite like a bit of rain myself,” Rob says, when it’s obvious Felipe isn’t listening and he knows there’s no point trying to make him. “Part of ‘home’, isn’t it.”

Felipe cringes. He wishes they wouldn’t use that word. This isn’t home. Rain isn’t part of home. He hasn’t come home. He doesn’t feel at home. He can’t make this _his_ home.

“It would be nice to show you the garden though,” Claire says.

“I’ve been growing flowers,” Susie says quickly, remembering something else she can talk about.

Valtteri manages to zone out the sound of his sister and watches Rob watch Felipe as he eats. He’s spent so long perfecting the art of going unnoticed, now he just needs to figure out how to be noticed again.

 

It’s late evening and they’re all in the living room, watching really bad reality television. Nobody, bar Susie, has spoken much, but watching television doesn’t call for much speaking, which Valtteri is glad for. He’s sat on the floor, with his book on his lap, but he’s not reading it anymore. He’s watching the others. Watching Susie yawn as she curls up closer to Claire, Claire’s arm wrapped around her whilst her eyes are on the screen. Rob’s on the sofa too, watching the screen and Valtteri isn’t sure but he thinks Rob’s ignoring him. Or trying to. He glances down in Valtteri’s direction every few minutes and, when they make eye contact, offers him a weak smile before returning his eyes to the television, apparently engrossed. Felipe’s sat on the floor too, his back leaning against the sofa, confused by the horrid British show.

“Rob,” Felipe says quietly. “Think I might go to bed now.”

“Alright,” Rob says. “You want your chocolate?”

“Please,” Felipe says, moving a little to let Rob stand.

“Chocolate?” Susie says.

“Hot chocolate before bed,” Rob says, grinning at Susie’s enthusiasm for just about everything.

“Can I have some?” Susie asks.

“We don’t actually have any,” Claire says, blushing a little.

“We brought some,” Rob says. “It’s ok. She can have some… if she’s allowed.”

“Sure,” Claire says.

“Do you want any?” Rob asks Valtteri, who is suddenly consumed by his book.

“No, thank you,” he says, ignoring the fact that hot chocolate sounds like the best thing in the world and if there’s one thing he misses from his old life, it’s hot chocolate.

“Ok then,” Rob says, disappearing into the kitchen.

His rucksack is still on the kitchen counter where he left it after bringing it in from the car. Scrambling through its contents, Rob finds the jar of hot chocolate powder and places it on the side, flicking the kettle on to boil. Further down in the bag, near the bottom and well hidden from any snooping teenagers that may have gotten their hands on the bag, is a small white bottle of pills. Rob sighs as he unscrews the lid and shakes one of the small, white tablets out.

The kettle boils and Rob makes two mugs of hot chocolate, before crushing the tablet and stiring the powder into one of the mugs.

“What was that?”

Rob jumps, almost spilling the drinks, and automatically moves to hide the tub of pills. Claire is stood in the doorway, eyeing him suspiciously. She moves into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her.

“What was that?” she asks again when Rob doesn’t answer.

“Nothing,” Rob lies, trying to slide the tablets into his pocket, but missing and dropping the tub onto the floor. They both dive for it, but Claire reaches it first.

“They’re sleeping tablets,” she says, peering at the bottle.

“They’re not,” Rob says. “He goes to sleep by himself. Give them here.”

“You’re giving him sleeping tablets,” Claire says, shocked.

“I’m not,” Rob insists. “Give them back, please. He needs them.”

“Does he know?” Claire asks.

“Not as such,” Rob says, his hand still out, waiting for Claire to return the pills.

“ _Not as such_?” Claire repeats, not handing back the pills. “What does that mean?”

“They’re not sleeping pills,” Rob says. “They’re to stop him having dreams.”

To stop him having nightmares, Rob thinks but he’s hoping he won’t have to say that. Because saying that will make Claire ask lots more questions, most of which he won’t be able to answer.

“What’s wrong with him having dreams?” Claire asks, like Rob knows she will.

He sighs and drops his hand now he knows it’s obvious she won’t hand them back. “He has nightmares. Every night. And before you say it, I can’t tell you.”

“Can’t tell me what?”

“What they’re about,” Rob says. “Or why he has them. Or why they’re so bad. Or anything else you’re going to ask. So just, trust me ok. I’m doing the right thing.”

“Wait,” Claire says slowly, reading the label again. “These are… these are Robek-Allons.”

Rob sighs and nods. He knows what’s coming next.

“He can’t control his powers if he’s taking these,” Claire says.

Rob shakes his head. It was true.

“Does he know that?”

Rob shakes his head. “It’s not important.”

“Of course it is!” Claire cries. “If he doesn’t know it’s down to this, he’s going to think it’s his fault. He can’t take these.”

“He has to,” Rob insists. “Give them back. Please.”

“You’re poisoning him,” Claire says.

“I’m doing what’s best,” Rob says.

“And making him unable to control his powers is what’s best?” Claire says, sarcastically.

“He can’t control them anyway,” Rob snaps. “He can’t control them and he’s never going to be able to.”

Claire’s about to argue, but she stops. That doesn’t make any sense. “What?”

“Felipe cannot control his powers,” Rob says, calmly this time. He knows he can only say a little without Claire asking about things he isn’t allowed to talk about, so he doesn’t say anymore.

“Why not?” she asks.

“Some things happened,” Rob says, quietly. “Before. But he doesn’t remember any of it. And now he can’t control his powers and he’s never going to be able to.”

“Does he know?”

“No.”

“You haven’t told him?”

“It’ll kill him,” Rob says. “Believe me, I’ve been looking after him for years. I know what I’m doing. This is what’s best for him.”

Claire’s about to argue when the door opens and Felipe pokes his head through.

“Is it done?”

“Here,” Rob says, handing him the drink of hot chocolate.

“No, Felipe-,” Claire begins, but Felipe has already drunk a mouthful of the spiked hot chocolate and gives Rob and Claire a small smile.

“Goodnight,” he says, quietly. “Is ok to take this to my room?”

“Sure,” Claire says, quietly. If Rob’s been giving him these for a while, one more time isn’t going to hurt him.

Felipe smiles again and takes the drink out of the kitchen.

“We are talking about this,” Claire snaps once he’s gone, shoving the bottle of pills into Rob’s chest before taking the other mug and leaving Rob in the kitchen alone.


	7. The Garden Bench

It has finally stopped raining by the time Felipe has changed for bed, his hot chocolate drunk and the mug on the windowsill. He watches the rain drops that cling to the window trickle down on the other side, then he spots something outside that makes him frown.

At the beginning of the quite large garden is a small wooden bench, it’s back to the house. And on the bench is Valtteri, wearing nothing but a now rain drenched top and jeans.

Valtteri comes out here most nights when he can sneak away without Claire or Susie asking where he was going. It was peaceful, even in the rain, and he always hopes the peace might help him get a better night’s sleep. Convince him that the world isn’t as bad as he always seems to remember it is when he tries to get to sleep. It never works, but he always hopes.

One thing he is certain of is that he is not going to be disturbed. He knows Claire and Susie have seen him out her a couple of times, but the distance means it’s awkward for them to try and prod into what he’s thinking, like they would do if he was sat inside, and he likes that.

So he isn’t prepared when there’s a blanket thrown over him and the bench slumps under the weight of another body.

“You looked cold,” Felipe says, pulling the blanket tighter around them both.

“Wasn’t,” Valtteri lies, not looking at him.

He’s not as annoyed as he thought he would be.

“Well, now you are very not cold,” Felipe says with a small smile, hoping to prompt one onto Valtteri’s face, but it doesn’t work. “Sorry, am not very good at this.”

“At what?” Valtteri asks before he could stop himself.

“Being whatever it is you need me to be,” Felipe says, uncertainly. He hadn’t been expecting a follow up question.

“What makes you think I need you to be anything?” Valtteri asks.

Felipe shrugs and the blanket almost falls off of his shoulders. “Don’t know. But you do not seem happy. Although maybe this is a Finnish thing, no?”

He tries another laugh and this time he almost gets a response from his brother, a small smile tugging on the edge of his lips.

“Wish I could do what you do?” Felipe says quietly.

“Do what?” Valtteri asks.

“Make yourself invisible,” Felipe says.

“Cannot make myself invisible,” Valtteri says. “Wish I could. Just unnoticeable.”

“Still,” Felipe says. “Is a skill I wish I had.”

“Is good sometimes,” Valtteri says. “Though sometimes I want to be noticed.”

Maybe that’s why he’s out in the garden even though it was raining. Maybe he wanted somebody to come out here and ask what the matter was, even if he wasn’t going to tell them.

“Am used to being noticed for the wrong reasons,” Felipe mumbles. “Though was never the centre of attention.”

“Are now,” Valtteri points out, and Felipe can’t argue with him.

“Is strange,” Felipe says, then he realises what Valtteri is trying to say. “Sorry,” he says, quickly. “Am not helping, am I? Sorry. See, I told you I was not very good.”

The smile that had begun to tug on the edges of Valtteri’s mouth almost makes it into success. “Is not your fault. Think Claire and Susie are just good at not noticing me. They were the same with my last brother.”

Although this was a completely different circumstance to when Pastor was about. He had demanded their attention and if he didn’t get it then they all had suffered in one way or another.

“I like you more than him,” Valtteri says, quietly. He doesn’t mention the fact Pastor is evil and there was no way he could like anyone less than him. It doesn’t seem right.

“Am glad,” Felipe says. “Maybe I do fit here, even if I can’t see it.”

“You fit here,” Valtteri says. “Don’t know why you think otherwise.”

He doesn’t know why he’s so sure of himself. After all, he’d thought Pastor had fitted here, and that obviously wasn’t true. Felipe’s different though. A good different.

“Thank you,” Felipe says. “Like you more than I liked my old brother too.”

He isn’t sure if this is a lie or not, but at least Valtteri is being nice to him. At least he’s being told he belongs here, that he’s wanted here.

_Am glad you’re not my brother. Kimi would be a better brother than you anyway._

“Thanks,” Valtteri says, pulling the blanket a little tighter around himself and forcing Felipe to move closer to him to keep the blanket wrapped around them both. He yawns, loudly, and rests his head against Felipe’s shoulder.

“Why are you out here, anyway?” Felipe asks.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Valtteri says.

Felipe laughs. “Is probably easier to sleep in a bed.”

“Didn’t want to sleep,” Valtteri admits.

“Why not?”

“Sometimes I have dreams,” Valtteri says. “About Pastor. And about what happened. And about… other things.”

“Should speak to Rob,” Felipe advices. “I used to have nightmares, then Rob gives me his magic hot chocolate, and now I don’t have any dreams at all. Is nice.”

“Hmmm,” Valtteri says, closing his eyes. “Will ask him tomorrow.”

“Should probably go inside,” Felipe says, struggling to stifle a yawn of his own. “Go to bed.”

“Am going to sleep here,” Valtteri mumbles.

“Ok,” Felipe says. “Then will sleep here too.”

 

“MUM!” Susie yells, scrambling up the stairs to the top floor where Claire’s bedroom is. “Mum!”

“Susie,” Claire moans, looking at the alarm clock on her bedside table. “Susie, it is six in the morning, what is the matter.”

“Valtteri’s not in his bed,” Susie says, tears in her eyes.

Claire is up in an instant and racing down the stairs, Susie following her.

Valtteri’s bed has not been slept in, the blankets still as perfect as they were the night before. She freezes in the doorway. He hasn’t run away. He can’t have run away.

She knew it was too soon. She knew she should have postponed it.

Rob’s already up, woken by Susie’s yelling. Without even having to think about it, Rob dashes to the other end of the hall to check on Felipe. Only Felipe isn’t in his bed, either.

A smile slowly creeps onto Rob’s face, only getting bigger as he gets closer to the window.

“It’s alright!” he calls. “I found them.”

 

The boys are still sat on the bench together, wrapped around each other in the most awkward way Rob can imagine. Luckily, it didn’t rain again in the night and they’re both dry, bar Valtteri’s feet which are frosted like the grass they’re sat on. Felipe’s curled up on the bench, head now resting on Valtteri’s shoulder whilst Valtteri’s head rests on top of Felipe’s. It’s so sweet Rob almost doesn’t want to wake them up.

Nope, he has absolutely nothing to worry about. Finally, things might start to go on track for them all.


	8. Susie's paper round

“Do not see why you cannot still be my tutor,” Felipe mumbles over breakfast after he and Valtteri have been taken inside and warmed up. “You understand.”

“That’s just the way these things work,” Rob says, trying to ignore the dark thoughts shouting from Felipe’s end of the table. He turns again to his own breakfast.

Felipe opens his mouth to complain again but is silenced by the doorbell. He frowns and glances up at the clock. It’s too early for tutors.

Claire sighs and goes to answer the door, muttering about what the point of having a key was. She already knows who it is. The same person who always calls around at this time on a school day, even though she’s given him a key and has been told many times he can just walk in.

“Susie!” she calls up the stairs before she’s even opened the door. “Toto’s here!”

She opens the door as Susie calls down that she’s coming.

“You have a key for a reason,” Claire says.

Toto nods and looks down at his feet. His bike’s at the end of the garden, the papers for Susie’s paper round in a bag around the handle bar.

“Sorry,” he says.

“Susie’s on her way down,” Claire says.

“Would think she would know to be ready,” Toto says, unable to stop himself from grinning.

“Yeah, that’s Susie for you,” Claire says, mimicking his grin. “Anyway, how are you? How are things?”

“Pretty good,” Toto says, nodding a little. He doesn’t say anything else. Claire wonders why she even bothers to try to make conversation, because Toto doesn’t seem to be very good at it. That’s probably why he gets on with Susie so well…

Susie bursts past Claire, school bag swinging from her arm, and Toto’s smile grows.

“I’ll see you later,” Claire calls after them. “Have a good day.”

Susie waves, not even looking back, as she skips down the garden path. Toto mumbles a goodbye before following her.

As Claire closes the door, Valtteri, warmed up from a shower, comes down the stairs, his short hair still wet. Claire’s glad to see him. Glad she _can_ see him.

“Are you alrght?”

Valtteri frowns as he reaches the bottom of the stairs and nods.

“And last night? You were… alright?”

Valtteri smiles a little and nods and for the first time in ages it isn’t a lie. For the first time since before Pastor left, he can honestly say he slept well, even if it was on a garden bench.

Claire smiles. “Good.” She sighs, because she wants to say more, but she doesn’t really know what. “You can talk to me, you know. I know I might be useless, but I can try.”

“Are not useless,” Valtteri says. “Are just… you.”

“Thanks,” Claire says.

Valtteri smiles again and, when Claire doesn’t say anything for a few moments, decides it’s ok to leave and does so quickly, disappearing into the kitchen to find the remains of breakfast.

Almost as soon as Valtteri goes into the kitchen, Rob comes out.

Claire’s still smiling.

“He didn’t have a nightmare last night,” she says. “He slept all night and he didn’t have a nightmare.”

“That’s… good…” Rob says, a little confused. He wasn’t aware that Valtteri was having nightmares.

“Williams children need their siblings,” Claire says aloud, glad the mantra she has been repeating in her head for months is finally a reality. Valtteri is going to be ok. This is only the beginning, and it’s too soon to be certain, but she’s as sure as she can be that Valtteri is going to be ok. “You don’t think…”

“No,” Rob says, the confused smile gone immediately.

“Being around you and Felipe worked for Valtteri,” Claire says. “What makes you think it can’t work the other way around?”

“Because this is different,” Rob snaps. He’s not going to get into another argument about this.

“How?”

“It just is,” Rob says.

“You don’t know that,” Claire says. “Give it a chance. One night without that poison and see how he is.”

“It’s not poison,” Rob says.

“One night,” Claire says. “One night and we’ll see who’s right.”

Rob glares at her. “Fine,” he says. “But don’t blame me when he’s up in the night screaming. Because it’ll be your fault.”

 

Susie walks near the houses, with the bike between her and Toto, him pushing the bike so they can walk together. Every couple of houses, they stop, Susie delivers a paper, and they walk again. They’ve been doing this for about half an hour, and in that time, Susie’s barely stopped for breath. Of course, Toto’s known she’s been excited about this for a while – it’s hard not to know – and seeing her still excited makes him smile.

“So you like them?” he asks as they come to a stop at another house.

“They made Valtteri happy,” Susie says, taking a paper from the bag hanging on the bike handle bars. “And mum. So I’m happy.”

She hurries up the short garden path, pushes the paper through the letter box, and is back at Toto’s side in seconds.

“I’m glad you’re happy,” he says. “You’re not right when you’re not happy.”

“Not right?”

“I mean… um…” If the boys at home could see him now, they would be laughing their arses off. The thought of that only makes him stumble more. “You should be happy.”

“Everyone should be happy,” Susie says as they set off again. “And everyone is.”

Almost everyone, she reminds herself. She shudders at the thought. Everyone will be happy soon, she’s sure of it.

“Do you think your powers might come sooner?” Toto asks. “If you’re all together and you’re all happy.”

Susie stops, the grin on her face spreading even further, if possible. That thought hadn’t even occurred to her.

“Maybe,” she says, skipping after Toto. “I hope so.”

“Me too,” Toto says, his voice falling back into the usual, unexcited droan.

“What’s the matter?” Susie asked, picking it up automatically.

“Nothing,” Toto lies.

“Yeah there is,” Susie says. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Toto?”

“What happens when you get your powers?” he asks.

Susie shrugs. “I get a tutor. They teach me to control them. I go to the assessments. I kick ass in the assessments.” She grins. She can’t see anything wrong with all of that.

“And what doesn’t happen when you get your powers?” he asks.

Susie frowns. “I don’t know.”

“If you have a tutor you won’t have to come to school anymore,” Toto points out. They stop outside another house to deliver another paper, but Susie doesn’t move, staring at her best friend in confusion.

“You don’t want me to have powers?”

“Of course I do,” Toto says. “But I’ll miss you.”

Susie’s mouth falls open and for the first time in her entire life she cannot think of anything to say.

Why was he only saying this now? When she had been getting excited and talking about her powers for years, he was only telling her he was worried _now_.

“Have you always been worried about that?” Susie asks, quietly.

Toto nods, shuffling awkwardly, then decides he’s going to deliver the paper if Susie’s not and takes one from the bag. Susie stops him before he can go to the house.

“We’ll still be friends,” she says. “We’ll always be friends.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because we will be,” Susie says. “I can’t imagine us not being.” She sighs. “I can’t believe you’ve been worried about that all this time.”

“Why not?” Toto asks. “You’ll go to the assessments. Make new friends.”

“I go to the assessments anyway,” Susie points out. “And you do.”

“You’ll be assessed,” Toto says. “You’ll be different.”

“I’ll still be me,” Susie says, laughing a little to try to get them back to normal. It doesn’t work. Toto sighs quietly and goes to deliver the paper.

Why hadn’t he told her this before?

When the paper’s been pushed into the letter box, Toto returns to the other side of the bike. Susie slides around to the other side too, linking her arm with his.

“I don’t care what happens,” she says. “As long as you’re still you and I’m still me, we’re still going to be best friends.”


	9. Tutors

“Rob says you’ve got your physical power,” Andrew says, trying, and failing, to make eye contact. “Want to show me?”

Felipe isn’t looking at him and Andrew can’t even tell if he’s heard or not. He doesn’t react, just sitting there in silence. Andrew knows it’s going to be difficult. Having the same tutor for so many years… it’s going to create problems. But he’d thought that Felipe would at least make the effort.

It looks like he was wrong.

“Or you could describe it, if you’re not feeling up to showing me,” he prompts.

“The sooner we get started, the more time you’ll have to practice,” he says. “And then the better you’ll be in the assessments, and I know that’s what you want.”

Felipe shudders and closes his eyes. Of course that’s what he wants. But he wants that _with Rob._

“Felipe…”

“I can’t show you,” Felipe says, his eyes still closed. “I can’t make it start.”

“Ok,” Andrew says, making a note of that. “Why don’t you start with your non-phys power?”

“I can’t make that start either,” Felipe says quietly.

Andrew frowns. Normally, people only got their physical power after they learn to control their non-phys.

“I used to be able to,” Felipe says, as if reading his mind. “But now I can’t.”

“What is it?” Andrew asked. He’s going to have to start at the beginning. Before that, maybe.

Felipe shrugs. “Can’t explain it. Is about settling people. Calming people down.”

He doesn’t mention the fact that it usually makes him less calm. Andrew doesn’t need to know that.

“Alright,” Andrew says. “Now, I want you to focus on the last time you used your power, ok?”

Felipe rolls his eyes. How many times has he done this exercise? He does as he’s told, though, and thinks back to the last time he calmed somebody down. Back at Ferrari. Back before things were a mess…

Rob sits outside the room, listening to the lesson he remembers giving countless times before, the ball of dark, frustrated thoughts only growing. They cannot go on like this. Felipe needs to get better.

 

“Valtteri’s skill is improving,” Jonathan says. “It’s been a steady increase since Pastor left and you should be proud of what he’s achieved in such a short space of time.”

Claire nods. She can see Valtteri is getting better. She doesn’t need the tutor to tell her that. The tutor nods as Claire does, dragging the meeting on for longer. There isn’t usually a meeting. Usually the tutors come in, do whatever it is they do, and leave. Andrew has already left, but Jonathan wanted a “chat”. Without Valtteri. It’s more than a little worrying.

“He has pretty much perfected his non-phys power,” Jonathan continued. “Which is a little surprising, given how long he has had the power.”

It hasn’t been long at all since Valtteri developed his powers. It came later than it usually does, which itself has worried Claire a little, but she’s always known he copes well with that side of things. Valtteri’s powers are the least of his worries.

“But even so, it is happening,” Jonathan said. “Which would possibly mean his physical power will develop soon.”

“What?” Claire says, blinking at the tutor. He can’t have physical power yet. It’s too soon.

“I cannot say for sure when it will come through,” Jonathan said. “Or what it will be. What I can say is that he’s ready for it. More ready than some people are for there’s.”

Claire knows he’s thinking about Pastor and can’t help but agree.

“You’re sure he’s ready?”

Jonathan nods.

“Will it come through before the next assessment?” Claire asks.

“The next assessment isn’t for a few weeks,” Jonathan says. “Like I said, I can’t say when it’ll come through, but possibly. I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. If that is the case, I’ll have to inform the stewards at the assessment when he first showed signs of developing his power. Being unable to control it won’t put marks against him. Not whilst it’s still new.”

Claire nods. She hasn’t been there when a child gains their physical power before. She doesn’t know if she’ll be able to handle it. She couldn’t handle Pastor when he had his physical power, and isn’t doing all that good a job, she thinks, of looking after Valtteri as he is now.

“It’ll be ok,” Jonathan says, standing. “Valtteri is a strong child. I’ve no reason to believe he won’t manage.”

“Thank you,” Claire says, quietly, also standing to show Jonathan out.

Neither of them notice Valtteri stood outside the door as they leave the living room and Jonathan collects his things from the hall. Neither of them see the grin that has split his face. He’ll have his physical power. Possibly before the next assessment. He’ll have his physical power and, for once, he’ll be the centre of attention. And not because anybody feels sorry for him, or he needs comforting. Claire will finally be _proud_.

 

“You’ll get there eventually, sunshine,” Rob insists. He’s sat on Felipe’s bed. It’s long after dinner but, once again, Felipe didn’t eat much and Rob’s beginning to worry. Andrew had been good, Rob thinks. He did all the things Rob would have done if it were his first time with Felipe. Obviously, Andrew didn’t know, though. Andrew would, eventually, think it was Felipe’s fault his powers were uncontrollable, or his own for being unable to tutor. But Rob couldn’t tell him what had happened. Even if he did want to, he’s signed a contract. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“Will be second best again,” Felipe mutters.

“There is no second best here,” Rob says. “You’ll just be you. And that’s all we’ll ever want you to be, ok? You just try your best.”

“What if that isn’t good enough,” Felipe asks.

“Good enough for what?” Rob says with a small laugh that does nothing to change Felipe’s mood.

“Good enough in the assessments?” Felipe says. “Because I won’t be. Will be just as bad as before, and they’ll all be laughing at me, again.”

“Nobody was laughing at you before,” Rob says. “And nobody will laugh at you now. And you don’t need to be good in assessments. That isn’t what this is about. This is about you.”

Rob hates whoever it was who thought that making the assessments into some kind of competition is a good idea. They’re just kids, after all, and they’re being forced to treat this as a competition and it just gets them stressed.

“Ok,” Felipe says, even though he knows Rob knows he’s lying. “Am going to sleep now, I think.”

“Inside this time?” Rob laughs and a small smile changes Felipe’s frown for a moment.

“Inside,” he says.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then,” Rob says, standing.

“Think you are forgetting something,” Felipe says, his smile growing a little.

The hot chocolate. And the tablet that Claire insists he doesn’t need anymore, even though she has no idea what happened and what is wrong.

“I haven’t forgotten,” Rob says. “I’ll go and make it now.”

When Rob goes into the kitchen, Claire is there, waiting.

“You’re not giving him a tablet,” she says.

“I wasn’t going to,” Rob says, filling the kettle up and flicking the switch. “If you want to see what happens when he doesn’t take one, fine.”

“He might not be that bad,” Claire says. “Look at Valtteri.”

“This is different.”

“How?”

“I can’t tell you,” Rob says again. The stupid contract. The contract he knew, as he was signing it, that he was going to hate. If he had just stood up for himself then, if he had done what he should have done, Felipe wouldn’t even _need_ the tablets now. But it was too late to change any of that.

The kettle boils just as Valtteri comes in.

“Are you making hot chocolate?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Rob says, ignoring the glare Clare is giving him.

“Felipe says it’s magic,” Valtteri says. “That it might stop my nightmares.”

“You didn’t have any nightmares last night,” Claire pointed out. “Maybe you won’t have them anymore.”

“Would rather try this,” he says, nodding towards the cup on the worktop. It’s not even the nightmares that keep him awake anymore. It’s the thought of having them. The thought of having to go through all that again. He’d rather stay awake the whole night than that.

“Sure,” Rob says, getting out another cup and spooning the hot chocolate mix into the mug. “What harm can it do?”

“Will take it up for Felipe, if you want,” Valtteri offers as Rob hands him one of the mugs.

Rob smiles and gives Valtteri the other mug, watching as the Finn carefully, slowly, leaves the kitchen.

“Just watch,” Claire says, having given up trying to get anything out of Rob. “He’ll be fine.”

 

Nobody slept that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you if you have left a nice comment!


	10. The nightmare

It’s always the same.

It starts off with an ear shattering scream that makes his throat sore and warns him of what’s coming next. Every time, he’s reminded, and he can hear the pain in the scream. He doesn’t need it to come, but it does. Like somebody setting off an explosion inside his brain, electric shocks burning different parts of his head and making white dots appear in front of his eyes. It doesn’t stop. Even when the screaming is silenced because his throat hurts too much for it to carry on, the pain continues.

He can feel the giant tears roll down the side of his face, past his ears and tickling behind them. He’s given up trying to keep them in.

“Please,” he mumbles, squeezing the hand that’s wrapped around his even tighter. “Rob, make them stop.”

“It’s ok,” Rob says, rubbing circles onto the back of his hand, and he needs more than that, but Rob doesn’t give it. He never does.

“It hurts,” he says.

“You’re hurting him,” Rob says to someone else, but he can’t see anyone. It’s all just white light.

“He’s just imagining it,” the other person says, and Felipe can’t put a name to the voice. He recognises it, though. He knows this doesn’t mean good.

“Please,” he mumbles again, but a large shock, right at the front of his head, stops him saying anymore. The moan becomes a scream again, burning his throat, but that pain is nothing compared to the one in his head, splitting it open for everything inside to spill out.

“This is for the best, Felipe,” Rob’s voice again, and it should be settling him, but it isn’t. Nothing is settling anymore.

“It _hurts_ ,”

“You’re just imagining it,” Rob says, trying to stay calm, but Felipe can hear his voice shaking. “This will make you better, ok?”

“Am not imagining it,” he mumbles.

And then the pain rockets again.

 

Valtteri lies with his head under his pillow, trying to ignore the cries from the other end of the corridor. He’s already let Susie into the bed, and she’s curled up close to him. Her eyes are closed but he knows she isn’t asleep. Nobody is asleep.

Except Felipe.

 

“You see,” Rob snaps watching Claire go down the stairs after almost an hour of the crying. “What did I say?”

“What does he dream about?” Claire asks.

“I can’t tell you,” Rob says, following Claire down the stairs, but he doesn’t follow her into Felipe’s bedroom. He knows better than that. As soon as Claire steps foot into the room, the screaming becomes louder and Rob waits a couple of seconds before pulling her away.

“It hurts more like that,” he says, closing the door as if that will block any of it out. “Look, there’s nothing you can do. The dream’s already started.”

“What is it about?” Claire asks.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” Claire snaps.

“Because I’ve made a promise,” Rob sighs. He doesn’t mention the contract.

 

Valtteri holds Susie closer to him, pressing a kiss into the top of her hair and trying to calm her down. She’s crying now, the shouting from the other end of the hall only making her worse.

“It’ll be ok,” he says. “Is just a nightmare.”

“Why don’t they wake him up?” she asks.

“They know what’s best,” Valtteri insists, even though he doesn’t believe that in the slightest. He also doesn’t believe he’s going to get much sleep.

“Why don’t you go in?” Susie suggests.

“I can’t,” Valtteri says. “You heard what Rob said.”

“But you’re different,” Susie says. “You’re his brother. He makes you better, and you make him better.”

“It won’t work,” Valtteri says, squeezing his eyes shut as if that might help him fall asleep.

“Just try,” Susie says. “You never know.”

 

“What do we do now, then?” Claire snaps at Rob. She can’t just leave him like this. Besides the fact she has a duty of care to all the Williams children, she knows none of them are going to sleep like this.

“Can’t your dad take their voice?” Rob says.

“He’d have to be down here all night,” Claire says. “I can’t ask that.”

“I’ll do it,” Frank says from where he’s sat on the stairs, appearing a few moments before when he heard them shouting. “If nothing will calm him down. You need to sleep more than I do.”

“Dad,” Claire tries but Frank isn’t listening.

“I’ll sit with him and keep him quiet,” Frank says. “I can sleep in the morning.”

 

Valtteri is just about to get up when the screaming stops. He feels Susie go tense beside him and automatically does the same, waiting for it all to get ten times worse. But it doesn’t. The silence lasts. He sighs, the screams still echoing around his head.

Susie pulls away. “Do you want me to go to my room now?”

“Not if you don’t want to,” Valtteri says, even though he knows he’s not going to get any sleep with his fidgeting little sister in his bed.

“Want to stay with you,” Susie says with a sleepy smile, as if she’s three.

“Stay here then.” Valtteri says, wishing she’d chosen to sleep in her own bed. “I’m just going to the toilet.”

“Ok.”

Valtteri leaves Susie in the bed, making sure she’s completely covered by the duvet, then leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. The door at the other end of the hall is open, but Valtteri can’t see the bed from his doorway. Barefooted, he crosses the landing and peers into the room.

Then he freezes.

The screams haven’t stopped.

Frank is sat at the end of the bed with a hand lying softly on Felipe’s wrist, but the teenager’s still a state, writhing in the bed with whispered screams and moans pouring from his mouth and tears pouring from his eyes.

Frank looks up when Valtteri comes in.

“Go back to bed,” he says.

“I can’t sleep,” Valtteri says, coming a little closer to the bed. The pain’s clear on Felipe’s face and it almost hurts him as well.

Frank nods. He isn’t surprised. He’d had a brother once.

Valtteri closes the bedroom door and sits at the end of Felipe’s bed, unable to take his eyes off of him. This is worse than his nightmares. He usually wakes up.

“Why doesn’t he wake up?” Valtteri asks.

“I don’t know,” Frank says.

Valtteri draws his knees under his chin and shuffles back on the bed so that his back’s against the wall.

“I need to help him,” he says. Susie’s right. But there’s nothing he can do. “I don’t know how.”

“Neither do I,” Frank says, his hand still in contact with Felipe’s wrist and keeping him quiet.

Valtteri fidgets round so that he’s kneeling on the bed and crawls a little bit up so he can kneel beside Felipe. It doesn’t look like the screams are getting any worse, like when Claire had tried to solve things, but Valtteri can’t imagine them any worse than this.

Felipe’s hair is wet with sweat and Valtteri wipes it off of his face. He doesn’t know why, because it isn’t going to help, but it feels better like this.

Frank watches as Valtteri takes Felipe’s free hand and holds it. Watches as the screams begin to get weaker. They’re still awful and Frank doesn’t dare take his hand away, but they’ve definitely improved.

“You belong together,” he says, quietly.

Valtteri nods, his eyes beginning to droop again. “Know this. Is him who doesn’t.”

“He will,” Frank says. “He’ll see.”

Valtteri nods, hoping this is true, and wipes Felipe’s hair out of his face again. The writhing has stopped, but Valtteri’s barely noticed. It still hurts. He’s still hurting.

An electric shock runs through Valtteri’s hand and he automatically tries to pull it away, but Felipe grips it tighter. The screams have stopped and Frank and Valtteri sit in a still silence for a few moments, waiting to see if this is a good thing or not.

Slowly, Felipe opens his eyes and looks around the room, confused to find himself awake. His eyes flick from Frank, who has let go of his wrist, to Valtteri. Valtteri whose hand he is still clutching. His eyes stay there.

“Moi,” Valtteri says, uncertainly, as Felipe sits up. “You were having a nightmare.”

Felipe shakes his head.

He still hasn’t let go of Valtteri’s hand, but neither of them notice.

He couldn’t have been having a nightmare. That’s what the hot chocolate is for. It works. It always works. The dream escapes him, like always. He can’t quite remember it but knows it was _the_ dream. It always is.

“You stopped it,” he says, quietly.

“You woke up,” Valtteri says, because that is what happened.

Felipe shakes his head again, still not sure if he really believes this is happening. “I never wake up. You _woke_ me up.”

Rob had been trying to wake him up for years before the hot chocolate came along. They all had. Nobody has ever woken him up before.

“I didn’t do anything,” Valtteri says.

Felipe wraps his arms around him so suddenly Valtteri doesn’t have time to pull away. He sits, stiff, and let’s Felipe finish the hug, unsure where to put his arms. It takes him a few moments to realise Felipe is crying, and then a few more to realise that Frank has gone, and he’s going to need to solve this himself.

“What’s the matter?”

Felipe shakes his head once again. He knows he can’t tell Valtteri what he’s thinking. He can’t let Valtteri know how selfish he really is.

He belongs here. He knows he belongs here. But he doesn’t want to. He wants to be back home. He wants to be with the family he grew up with. He wants Fernando to be the one waking him up from the nightmare. But it isn’t. And none of that is ever going to happen. Because he belongs here, not there. And he doesn’t want that to be true.

“Stay with me tonight?” Felipe says. “If I go to sleep, it’ll happen again.”

“I already promised Susie,” Valtteri says. “But can come to my room. Will not be much space, and Susie fidgets in bed. But can kick her onto the floor, if you want,” he says with a dorky smile that makes Felipe laugh.

Felipe nods, still trying to stop crying, and follows Valtteri across the hall.

 

Upstairs, Rob is listening as the enormous cloud of dark, angry thoughts disperses and can’t stop himself from grinning as he finally falls asleep.


	11. The morning after

“Are you going to let him have a tablet now,” Rob says, the next morning, as Claire walks into the kitchen to find him already making tea. He wants her to say he was right, but knows she never will.

“What does he dream about?” she asks again.

Rob shakes his head. “I can’t tell you. I promised.”

“Promised who?” Claire asks.

“Ferrari,” Rob says, quietly. He lifts the mug of tea to his face and hopes he isn’t asked anymore questions.

Claire is about to ask another when Susie skips into the room, grinning as usual.

“You look cheerful,” Rob observes, quick to stop whatever it is Claire’s going to ask.

“Yeah,” Susie says, taking her bowl from the cupboard and filling it with sugar coated cereal. “Even though the boys made me sleep on the floor.”

“Ah,” Rob says, grinning back. Then his grin falls into a confused frown. “Boys?”

“Valtteri and Felipe,” Susie says, as if this is obvious. It is, after all.

“Why did they make you sleep on the floor?” Claire asks, not questioning the fact that it was both of them. When Felipe had been asleep and trapped in an unwakable nightmare, which was the point Rob was stuck on.

“So they could sleep in the bed,” Susie said.

“You were all in Valtteri’s room?” Rob says, trying to make sense. “And Felipe was awake.”

“Yep,” Susie says, taking her cereal and sitting at the breakfast table to eat. “I don’t think he went to sleep again. He was awake when I went to the toilet.”

He woke up. Felipe has been having nightmares for years. They’d been trying to wake him up for years. He had woken up.

 

“Don’t want to go down,” Felipe mumbles, watching Valtteri pull his shoes on. He hasn’t slept the entire night and he regrets it now but he knows if he’d fallen asleep again he would have had the nightmare again.

“Why not?” Valtteri asks. “Are not that scary.”

“Kept everyone awake all night,” he says.

“Not _all_ night,” Valtteri says. “Will be fine. Claire will be too embarrassed to say anything. You know Rob better than me, but do not think he will be angry.”

Felipe shrugs. The hot chocolate didn’t work, and Rob will want to know why. He’ll think it’s his fault, and it’s not. Felipe’s not sure why the hot chocolate didn’t work. If it didn’t work this time then it might not work next time and…

“Calm down,” Valtteri says. “Will be ok.”

He holds out a hand for Felipe to take. For a few seconds, Felipe just stares at it, still trying to push away the selfishness that he let manifest in the night, then he takes it and lets Valtteri led him downstairs.

 

Everyone looks up when the boys walk into the kitchen, silence immediately filling the room. Once they realise they’re all staring, everyone looks away as quickly as they looked up and it just makes everything even more awkward. For a few moments, nobody says anything, everyone frozen in their places.

Frank, as always, is the one to break the silence.

“Breakfast?”

“Cooked?” Valtteri asks, hopefully.

“I think I can stretch to pancakes,” Rob says with a weak smile.

“That’s not fair!” Susie declares, looking down at her empty bowl.

“Go and get ready you,” Claire says, taking her bowl away. “You know Toto’ll be here soon.”

Grumbling, Susie leaves the room and hurries up the stairs. Watching her, Claire has to try not to laugh.

“Come sit down,” she says, instead. “It shouldn’t take too long. How are you feeling?”

“Am fine,” Valtteri says, even though he knows the question isn’t aimed at him.

Felipe nods, not looking at anyone as he sits down opposite Valtteri. “Fine. Am sorry, about last night. Sorry for keeping you awake.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Rob says. He knows there’s no way Felipe will believe they slept through it all

He’s still little surprised. The thoughts aren’t as dark as Rob thought would be. They’re still nothing like what Rob would be happy feeling, but they’re not like before.

Maybe Claire’s right.

He glances over at her making pancakes and decides it isn’t a good idea to tell her that.

“So, what have you two got planned for today, then?”

Felipe looks up, surprised. “Aren’t the tutors coming?”

“Not today,” Rob says, and the relief that floods Felipe’s thoughts worries him a little. “Every other day.”

“Maybe you and Valtteri can go out and he can show you the town,” Claire suggests. “I don’t _think_ it’s supposed to rain today.”

“Will rain,” Valtteri promises. “Always rains here.”

“I don’t know,” Felipe says quietly. He’s too tired for this and too busy worrying about everything else. He’d really just hoped he would be able to stay in and maybe they could figure out what was wrong with the hot chocolate.

“You don’t have to,” Claire says. “It’s up to you two.”

“The town is boring anyway,” Valtteri says.

“Why don’t you have a go on those game things, you’ve got upstairs,” Frank suggests. “You were always glued to those before, Valtteri.”

“Were best for two players,” Valtteri says. It has been a long time since he played any of them. Susie is rubbish and, even though it’s nice to win for once, it had soon become boring when she couldn’t even figure out how to move. “Could play them, though, if you want.”

Felipe’s face brightens at that and the dark thoughts pause for a moment.

“As long as you are not so good I can never win,” he says.

“Was hoping you would be terrible and then I might have a chance,” Valtteri says, the dorky smile making Felipe grin.

“Of course, games consoles,” Claire says. “Why would anyone want to be outside when they have those about?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to everyone who keeps reading this even though it isn't half as good as you can get elsewhere. :)  
> You're brilliant.


	12. The History Lesson

Susie’s trying to keep herself awake at the back of the class whilst a film about the British Empire plays. She doesn’t even know why she needs to be awake, as she can’t pay attention on the film anyway. The lights are off and it would be so easy to fall asleep, if Toto wasn’t nudging her every five minutes to try to get her to concentrate. It’s no use, though. The film’s boring, and he’s not paying attention either.

He slides a note in her direction.

_Are you ok?_

Susie squints at it, barely able to read it in the dark, then nods.

_You were quiet earlier._

Susie sighs quietly and finds a pen in her pencil case to reply with.

_Just tired._

Toto takes the paper back as soon as she’s finished writing.

_What’s up?_

_Nothing. Just tired._

She hasn’t told Toto about the nightmare and the screaming. She’d wanted to, and had planned out exactly how she was going to tell the story, but then she’d never told it. Other things, more important things, had distracted her. For the first time since Toto has known her, she’d been quiet.

_There’s something wrong._

_There isn’t._

_Why won’t you tell me?_

_I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well._

_Why not?_

_Don’t know. Just didn’t sleep well._

_Are you annoyed at me?_

_You keep elbowing me and won’t let me go to sleep._

_Susie, you need to pay attention to this. We’ve got a test._

_Well, now you’re distracting me. Let me go to sleep and you can tell me about it later._

Toto sighs, loud enough to get the attention from the next desk across. They both ignore the sniggering boys who have nothing better to do than laugh at them.

Susie leans back in the chair and closes her eyes. If she can just get five minutes-

Before she can fall asleep, the bell rings and everyone gets up. The light switches on and the room bursts into noise now that the lesson is finally over. She groans quietly and starts to shove things into her school bag.

“What’s wrong?” Toto demands once the noise is loud enough to cover their conversation.

“Nothing,” Susie says, annoyed. “Unless you don’t stop asking, then it will be you.”

“Know you, Susie, you’re never quiet, even if you haven’t slept in a week,” Toto said. “What is wrong?”

Susie groans and doesn’t bother answering, following the rest of the students out of the classroom and hoping to lose Toto in the crowd. She doesn’t know what to say. She just wants things to be how they’ve always been between them and if he’s so convinced they’re going to change, then he’s going to let it.

Toto catches her as she leaves the building on her way to maths.

“Susie, am not letting you go anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong, because you’re worruing me now.”

“I… I feel weird,” Susie says, quietly.

“You’re ill?”

Susie shakes her head. “I… I don’t _know_ but… I think I might be getting my powers…”

 

“You are going to need to start talking to me, Rob,” Claire says, once they boys are safely upstairs playing their video game and her father has disappeared again. “We are a family, and you are part of that. And if there’s something that’s happened that’s effecting this family, I need to know about it.”

“Well, I can’t tell you” Rob says, again.

“Promises get broken all the time,” Claire says. “And if this is important, and I think it is, then I don’t think anyone is going to blame you for breaking this one.”

Why can’t she just leave it?

“I signed a contract,” Rob says, hoping this will make her stop but knowing it won’t.

“A contract?” she asks, tilting her head to try to get a better view of Rob’s face when he looked away from her. “Why does that matter?”

He sighs and takes his eyes away from the table for a moment to look at Claire, but it’s no good. She doesn’t understand and telling her is only going to make her worse.

“ _Things_ … happened with Ferrari,” Rob says, slowly. “And I signed a contract that, amongst other things, said I couldn’t tell anyone about it.”

“You’re not with Ferrari anymore,” Claire points out but Rob shakes his head.

“I sat with a lawyer before I left and went through it all, but it stands wherever I am,” Rob says, quietly.

Even now he can’t believe he’d been so stupid as to let any of this happen. And he doesn’t need Claire to tell him that, even though he knows that’s exactly what’s coming next.

“Why would you sign something like that?”

There it is.

“I thought I was helping,” Rob says. “I thought this was going to help Felipe and, for a little while, it did. But now… now not so much. But I couldn’t see that when I signed, could I? I can’t tell the future, Claire, and I had no idea what was going to happen.”

It’s his fault. He _knows_ it’s his fault. He doesn’t need anyone to tell him that and he certainly doesn’t need someone who has no idea what happened to tell him that.

“So what are you going to do?” Claire asks. “Just let him carry on thinking it’s his fault?”

“Felipe doesn’t remember any of what happened,” Rob says. “He blocked that out himself, so he obviously doesn’t want to know. He’s a strong kid, Claire. A fighter. He has more control over his powers than anyone thought he would have, but it’s never going to get any better. So I’ve got two choices. I carry on letting him think it’s his fault, but at least he’s trying. He hasn’t given up. Or I tell him. He gives up. He hates me for pretty much forever and doesn’t let me help. He still has no control over his powers and he’ll _still_ probably think it’s his fault. What do you want, Claire? Because I honestly don’t know anymore.”

For a long time, Claire doesn’t say anything. At first, she’s staring at Rob, trying to come up with another option. When she finally admits to herself there isn’t one, she can’t admit it to Rob, so she begins to wash up the plates that had been left on the side, ignoring Rob watching her.

“Fine,” she says, eventually. “We’ll do this your way. But, if he gets worse, I’m telling him.”

Rob nods and tries to smile. Claire just glares back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, as always. :)


	13. The video game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short chapter, but here's at least one question answered. Sort of. :)

“What are you going to do?”

They’re skipping class. Neither of them have ever skipped class before, but it doesn’t really seem that maths matters anymore. They’ve snuck in to the nature garden at the back of the school and are sitting beside the lake, glad that, for once, it isn’t raining.

Susie shrugs, gazing into the water. She hasn’t looked at Toto since she told him.

“You should probably go to see the nurse,” Toto says. “Make sure it isn’t anything else.”

“I’m not ill,” Susie said, quietly.

She can’t even begin to explain what had happened, because she doesn’t quite understand herself. One moment she had been saying goodbye to Claire, the next- BAM! She would have thought nothing of it, but then the same thing happened with Toto when they were leaving the house. She hasn’t touched anyone since.

“What was it like when you got yours?” she asks, quietly.

“It’s different for me,” Toto says, and Susie already knows that. Some lucky few get their powers completely developed and have control straight away. People like that, like Claire, and Rob, and Toto, never get a physical power, but they didn’t have to go through the endless assessments, either. Susie isn’t entirely sure if she’s jealous or not.

“But how did you know?” she asks.

Toto shrugs. “You just know. And if you think this is your powers, it’s almost definitely your powers.”

Susie nods silently, still looking at the lake.

The silence is beginning to make Toto feel a little ill. This isn’t Susie, not the Susie he’s always known. She shouldn’t be quiet.

“I don’t want to leave you,” Susie says, eventually. “What if you’re right? What if we just… stop being friends?”

“You said yourself that wouldn’t happen,” Toto says, trying to cheer her up. He should have known that would have upset her, and he had never really meant to tell her.

“But what if it does?”

“We won’t let it happen,” Toto reminds her.

“I’m not going to tell them,” Susie says, suddenly looking up at Toto. There are tears in her eyes, but she brushes those away, hugging her knees to her chin.

“Susie, you have to tell them,” Toto says. “You need a tutor to help you control them and…”

“You could be my tutor,” Susie says.

“Susie…”

“You could,” Susie says. “You know what they say and it’s not as if all tutors even have powers, so you’ll already be better than some of them.”

“They train to be tutors, Susie,” Toto points out. “I didn’t.”

“Please,” Susie says, shuffling closer to him. “Please, can we just give it a go? And then if it doesn’t work, I’ll tell Claire and Rob, I promise. Please!”

Toto sighs and shakes his head, but he doesn’t have an argument for her this time.

Susie shuffles closer again, and is up on her knees so she’s looking down on him. “ _Please_.”

Toto rolls his eyes, trying to come up with another reason to not give it a go, but he can’t think of one. “Ok,” he says, eventually. He can’t really imagine saying no to her.

Susie grins and wraps her arms around him, squeezing tight.

“This is why you’re my best friend.”

 

“I won,” Valtteri says, shocked. “I never win.”

“Don’t say it like that. You make it sound as if I am rubbish,” Felipe complains, grinning. He doesn’t mention he has won the first two of the three matches.

Valtteri grins back in his usually dorky fashion.

“Tell me to shut up if you want, ok?” Felipe says, his grin falling out of seriousness and making Valtteri’s do the same. “But am just trying to… understand. What does your last brother do that is so bad he has to be sent away?”

Valtteri sighs, any trace of the grin gone, and puts the controller down.

“Sorry,” Felipe says, quickly. “Do not answer if you do not want to. I get it.”

Valtteri shakes his head. “Is ok. He…” Valtteri sighs and tries to think of a way to explain this without making him sound like a complete idiot, because that’s what he had been. “Pastor wasn’t a very nice person. He had a power that makes people doubt themselves, is not a very nice feeling. Stopped me developing my powers for a very long time.”

“Oh,” Felipe says. A small voice in his head asks if that’s it, but he doesn’t say it allowed. It hurt Valtteri a lot, obviously, so it isn’t nothing.

“Then, when I got my powers, he got jealous,” Valtteri continues, his eyes on the controller he’s left on the floor. “Would stop me talking to Susie and Claire and sometimes would lock me in his room. I don’t know why. It wasn’t as if anybody else was paid attention to when he was in the room, anyway. And if they did pay attention, he’d hurt me, sometimes. Claire doesn’t know that part. Please don’t tell her. She’d only blame herself and this wasn’t her fault.”

“Promise, I won’t tell her.”

“It wasn’t so bad,” Valtteri says. “Learnt to control my power and then they couldn’t pay attention to me. Was all fine, and probably would have carried on like that, but then there was the flood. Then Claire decided he couldn’t stay anymore.”

He doesn’t go into details about the flood. He can’t. Every time he thinks about it he feels sick, a little, wave after wave of water crashing over him.

He looks up at Felipe, who’s staring at him now, and smiles weakly.

“I shouldn’t have asked,” he says. “I’m sorry.”

“Is not your fault,” Valtteri says. “You are the one making it better, right? Come on. Another round and I’m going to beat you again.”

The grin gets bigger as he goes back to the main menu of the screen, scrolling through to set up another match. Felipe isn’t watching the screen as Valtteri does so, but his hand is on his brother’s wrist as he tries to get some control over his own powers.


	14. Arguing

“Can I go around Toto’s for dinner?” Susie asks as she bursts into the house after school.

Claire rolls her eyes. Her obsession with Rob and Felipe hasn’t lasted long, then, and they’re quickly back to the usual routine.

“You’re back by half eight,” Claire says. “And if you’ve got any homework, you get it done.”

“Will do,” Susie promises, rushing back outside and slamming the door shut behind her.

Rob laughs as she leaves, looking up from where he’s been trying to write an email to a lawyer. “When you said she was always like that, I didn’t really believe you.”

“I’m not surprised,” Claire says, sourly. She hasn’t really spoken to Rob all day and she doesn’t want him to think that she’s forgiven him for whatever it is he’s done.

Rob sighs and turns back to his email, ignoring her mood. This isn’t quite how he had expected the first few days to go when he had been planning to make his move here. Things can only get better, though. And if he can find a lawyer who could sort out the mess with the contract for him, he’ll be that much closer to better.

He hits send as they boys come down the stairs. They’ve been up there all day, and Rob had joked at one point when he went up with snacks about them getting square eyes, but he’s got a feeling they haven’t just been playing video games. He’d seen Felipe’s hand on Valtteri’s wrist. Seen him trying. And even though he feels sick knowing that it’s never going to work, he can’t help but be proud of the fact Felipe’s still trying. And Valtteri’s trying to help.

“What’s for dinner?” Valtteri asks.

“You wouldn’t be so hungry if you’d had some proper lunch,” Claire says.

“Am not hungry,” Valtteri lies. “Was just wondering.”

Rob’s pleased to see the thoughts from both of them are light and shallow, how teenage boys’ thoughts should be when they’ve spent all day doing nothing and have come down for food. He thinks, for a moment, that maybe it had actually worked and Felipe has managed to calm Valtteri down from something. It isn’t entirely impossible.

“You can go down to the chip shop when it opens,” Claire says.

“That’s not another half an hour,” Valtteri complains.

“I thought you weren’t hungry,” Rob laughs.

“We’re not,” Valtteri says quickly.

“Just a little,” Felipe adds.

Rob grins as they sulk back upstairs, mumbling something about lunch which he doesn’t quite catch.

“I told you that you should have come down,” Claire calls after them, but they both ignore her.

“Felipe’s rubbing off on him already,” Rob jokes, but Claire just glares at him and goes back to the papers she had been sorting through before. He sighs. “I know you’re not happy about this, but I am trying to get it sorted out. Can we please not act like children about this?”

“You’re saying I’m acting like a child?”

“Well, you sort of are,” Rob observes.

“I took you in when you had nowhere else to go,” Claire snaps. “You threw a hissy fit where you were and they threw you away. And I let you in because you’re family, and that’s what families do. But I didn’t have to. And you’re the one coming in here, drugging my children…”

“ _Our_ children,” Rob reminds her, not even bothering to get into another argument about the drugs.

“I think I have a right to be a little angry at you,” Claire finishes.

“I am trying to sort it out,” Rob says again. “It’s not easy, you know. You have no idea what we’ve been though.”

“Yeah, because you won’t tell me,” Claire snaps.

“Because I _can’t_ ,” Rob snaps back.

 

_“Yes, because you decided to sign a stupid contract that led to making your own kid disabled.”_

_“Shout a bit louder. I don’t think Susie and Toto heard you.”_

Felipe is sat on the stairs, trying to ignore them both, but it isn’t working.

Valtteri watches him from a couple of steps up, trying to figure out what he’s supposed to do now. He’s never really been the one doing the comforting. It’s different with Susie. He can usually solve whatever it is Susie’s upset about, or at least he knows how to comfort her when he can’t.

“Felipe?” Valtteri asks quietly, but he shakes his head and won’t look around.

The adults fall silent. There’s a couple of seconds between when Claire’s voice abruptly stops and they appear in the hallway, looking up the stairs.

The guilt’s clear on their faces and Felipe thinks he might throw up.

“What… what’s wrong with me?” he croaks, trying his best to keep the tears that are beginning to fill his eyes from falling, but it’s no good.

Claire turns to Rob, waiting for him to reply.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, sunshine,” Rob says, but he doesn’t do a very good job at convincing himself, let alone anybody else.

“Said… said I’m _disabled_ ,” Felipe says, shaking.

Rob turns to Claire, this time, and Claire realises what an idiot she’s been.

“It was just about the dreams, Felipe,” Claire says, slowly. “And whatever it is that makes you have them.”

“Why didn’t the hot chocolate work?” Felipe asks, shaking. He doesn’t believe Claire but it’s clear neither of them are going to tell him the truth.

Rob bites his lip and looks at Claire, but it’s clear she isn’t going to answer this one. “It wasn’t the usual hot chocolate,” he says, slowly. “Claire wondered if, maybe, now you’re home you wouldn’t need it. She was wrong.”

“Yes, thank you, Rob,” Claire snaps.

“But you can have the normal stuff tonight,” Rob insists. “We’ll go back to how it was before, if that’s what you want.”

Felipe nods and tries to stand, but he’s still shaking. Valtteri hurries down the few steps between them and pulls Felipe up.

“Think if we walk slow we’ll get to the chip shop just as it opens,” he says. “Then we’ll be the first in line.”

Claire pretends to check her watch, but she knows the boys are leaving now whether the chip shop will be open when they get there or not.

“Sure,” she says, her own voice small. “I’ll get the money.”


	15. Floods

It doesn’t take long for routines to emerge. The boys always end up sleeping in each other’s rooms and, with the spiked hot chocolate back in place for Felipe, their nightmares have both stopped. Tutoring is still slow progress. Until Valtteri’s physical power comes through, there’s nothing he can do but practice the same thing over and over again, with no hope of getting any better. They keep moving towards the assessment, but Felipe knows he’s going to be as good in this one as he was in the one before. Whatever Rob meant by him being better once he was home, Felipe’s pretty sure he’s proven him wrong. Susie’s been spending even more time with Toto, which Claire hadn’t really thought was possible, but she’s been surprised once again, and it seems now that her daughter is very rarely even at home if she isn’t sleeping.

A week after he had sent the initial email, Rob gets a reply from the lawyer he had contacted.

“He wants to meet,” he tells Claire, who still isn’t speaking to him properly. “Thinks he might be able to find a loop hole that the others overlooked. That’s what they do, right? Find loop holes?”

“I’ve no idea,” Claire mutters, not looking at him.

Rob sighs and replies to the email arranging a meeting. He doesn’t want to let himself get hopeful. He’s already sat through this before and knows there’s very little chance of this guy being able to find something that’s been missed, but that little chance is still there. There’s a chance he can get this sorted out.

“We might be able to get this sorted out before the assessment,” he thinks aloud.

“You think?” Claire asks, uncertainly.

Rob frowns. He hadn’t been expecting her to reply. “If this guy can find something then sure, I don’t see why not. But that’s a pretty big if.”

He knows Ferrari and he knows they would have gotten the best people possible to write up the contract. Money is no object with them and the contract is the best they could buy.

But there has to be a chance…

“Why don’t you just break it?” Claire asks, and Rob’s genuinely surprised it’s taken her this long to ask.

“Because that’ll make things worse,” Rob says.

“How could it get any worse?” Claire asks.

Rob sighs, trying to remember the details of the contract and what parts he was allowed to tell her. “If I break it, things will get worse, for me, for Felipe, and possibly for you and the others.”

“They can’t do that,” Claire says, uncertainly.

Rob shrugs and wipes sleep from his eyes. It’s late and he’s not sure whether he should stay up to wait for the lawyer to reply. “You try telling them that.”

“Are they going to be funny with us at the assessment?” Claire asks.

Rob rubs his eyes again, trying to stay awake. “Probably not. They probably won’t even talk to us. They don’t like to make people think they’re the bad guys. They might try to say hello, but that’s it.”

“And Felipe will be ok with that?” Claire asks.

She knows Felipe’s still not ok with the way things are. She would have to be an idiot to not be able to see that. But they’ve been making progress, and she doesn’t want all that ruined because someone he used to think of as family “says hello”.

“I don’t know,” Rob admits. He’s been thinking the exact same thing. “Maybe.”

“Could you have a word with them?” Claire asks. “Tell them how he is and that it would probably be best to leave him alone.”

“I could try,” Rob says. He doesn’t know if they’d even listen to him, but he’s done that kind of thing before and, though it had been upsetting at the time, it’s working for the better in the long term. “I’ll try.”

“Thank you,” Claire says, quietly. For once, it isn’t sarcastic. Rob smiles back.

“I’m going to go up now,” he says, quietly. “Do you want me to check on the boys?”

“Please.”

 

_“Pastor!”_

_It’s no good. The door doesn’t open. It never has before so he’s not sure why he thinks it will this time. He’s not sure why he thinks Pastor will come and help him, either. He never has before._

_“Pastor!”_

_The water is up to his waist now, freezing cold and already beginning to make his feet numb. His hands are shaking and red from hammering on the door. He rests his head on the wood, his face wet with tears and the rain that’s falling from the ceiling, and makes a silent prayer._

_“Pastor, please.”_

_There’s no reply from the other side of the door and, if it wasn’t for the obvious use of his powers, Valtteri would have thought he had gone._

_“I didn’t mean to!”_

_He’s not even sure what it is he isn’t meant to have done, but he’s obviously done something to annoy his brother. Again._

_The water’s getting higher and Valtteri almost has to swim as he makes his way to the back of the room, trying the window again just in case this time it will open, but it doesn’t. There’s no escape._

_On the other side of the door, there’s a scream._

“Valtteri, come on,” Felipe whispers, frantically, his hand wrapped around his brother’s wrist as he tries to calm him down, but it’s no use. “Wake up.”

Valtteri’s squirming in the bed, mumbling words Felipe cannot understand. Felipe shakes him, uselessly, but he doesn’t wake up.

 

_“Pastor? Pastor, stop.”_

_Over the crashing of the water that suddenly became even more stormy seconds ago, Valtteri can hear Claire. He tries to wade back over to the door, but his feet can barely touch the ground if he wants to keep his head above water._

_“What’s wrong with you?”_

_There’s a crack of thunder and Valtteri shudders, kicking his way back over to the door and slamming his hands against it uselessly._

_“Let him out.”_

_He won’t listen. Valtteri knows he won’t listen. He’s got all their attention now and there’s no way he’s losing it that easily._

_“Pastor, you’re going to kill him, let him out.”_

“Come on, Valtteri,” Felipe says, tears beginning to build in his own eyes now as he watches his brother dream. He can’t stop the dream though. He can’t control his powers and he can’t do the one thing Valtteri needs him to do.

He doesn’t notice Rob watching from the doorway.

 

_“Maybe he wants to die,” Pastor says, his voice accompanied by another crack of lightning and thunder. “Seems that way to me. I’ve told him and told him what would happen, but he still doesn’t listen.”_

_His feet can’t even touch the ground anymore and he’s kicking frantically to keep himself afloat._

_The water’s unusually warm. Not hot. Not unpleasant. More like the water from a swimming pool and, gulping down air, Valtteri’s kicks become a little more leisured. He can still here Claire shouting at Pastor on the other side of the door, but it seems a lot further away now, and he can’t make out his brother’s replies._

_There’s still the odd crack of lightning and rumble of thunder but, somehow, they’re getting further away now too, and the rain is getting lighter._

“Please just wake up,” Felipe hisses, angrier at himself than at Valtteri.

Rob’s initial instinct is to go in and calm them down, but he can hear Valtteri’s thoughts getting lighter. The sleep gets thinner and thinner as Valtteri wakes himself up.

“Felipe?” Valtteri asks, blinking awake. His eyes flick down to where Felipe’s gripping his wrist so tightly it hurts. “You…”

“You was having a nightmare,” Felipe says, his own thoughts calming instantly now Valtteri’s awake.

“You calmed me down,” Valtteri says, frowning. He knows how badly Felipe has been struggling and is a little surprised. “You did it. Were you trying to?”

Felipe nods, quickly, and the lopsided grin that stretches Valtteri’s face makes him smile a little.

Rob smiles too and closes the door silently as he leaves. It shouldn’t be that hard. The amount of time Felipe’s had his powers and the skill he’d once had, it shouldn’t have been hard at all.

But it’s an accomplishment, and Rob isn’t going to let anything take that away from them.


	16. Arriving at the assessment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This maybe isn't the best piece of writing, because it's a little rushed. I might be able to start updating this more frequently, depending on how NaNoWriMo goes, but I'm not sure. There isn't a lot of time for redrafting, hence the bad writing. I'm sorry.

The assessment comes sooner than anybody really expected it to. The few weeks of tutoring whizz past and before they know it, they’re on the way to the Old School House, where the ten other families would be meeting them to have their own children assessed.

“It’s not a competition,” Rob says, following Claire and Susie inside and looking back to make sure they boys are still following him. “This is about beating yourself, not anybody else.”

“Yeah, and getting rewards if that means beating anyone else,” calls another boy from the Mercedes family as they wait behind them for registration.

Toto elbows him. “Do you have to, Lewis?”

The boy shuts his mouth, glaring at Toto, but the glare soon forms a grin when Susie falls away from Claire to walk beside Toto. Lewis turns to find his brother so they can both make fun together.

“Ignore them,” Susie says, wrapping her arm around Toto’s so they’re linked.

“Was planning to,” Toto says.

It shouldn’t be a competition, Rob thinks. They’re just kids, and there’s no need to stress them out with this. The assessments should be about improving their learning, but Rob has seen, not just with Felipe, power possessors being sick the night before assessments. He’s always wondered if the people running them know about the stress they put the kids under, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they do.

“Have you both done this before?” the man at registration asks, and both boys and Claire nod. “Alright then. You’ll be called in turn but you can wait in gazebo nine.” He waves back out of the building, to the field outside where the assessment will be taking place.

Claire nods, smiles, and quickly moves out of the way to let the next family register.

Outside, the field is already awash with colour, different families rushing to their gazebos, flags from around the world waving in the mild breeze, and friends all waiting to show support. The weather is, thankfully, good and the field hadn’t turned into a pot of sludgy mud, which everyone is thankful for.

Claire’s already half way through the field, the boys and Rob following behind her, before she notices they’ve left Susie with Toto.

“Am sure she’ll be able to find her way,” Valtteri says. “Is not _that_ many people here.”

It’s true. Besides the different families, all of which Susie knows fairly well by now, there’s hardly anyone. Less and less people have been showing up in support. Rob isn’t sure if this is a good thing or not. The less people there, the less pressure there is but, before the assessments were a competition, they were a celebration, hence the festival approach.

“Sure, she’ll be able to,” Claire says. “But will she?”

“Will be fine,” Valtteri says, carrying on ahead of Claire. “Will fetch her before the assessment starts if she does not come.”

Gazebo nine is near the middle of the long line put up to give everyone somewhere to sit, wait, and watch the show, and it gives them a good place to watch the others.

As predicted, Susie wonders along with the Mercedes family, her arm still linked with Toto’s , but Rob isn’t concerned by that.

He’s concerned by the small herd of red crossing the field.

Ferrari have one of the gazebos near the start of the line, as far away from them as could be hoped, and Rob watches as they head towards it, most of them laughing a joking, probably expecting it to be another walk in the park for them. And why wouldn’t they? After everything they put their kids through so they can be the best, it made sense that they were pretty confident.

“You’re staring,” Claire murmurs, purposefully not looking in that direction.

“No I’m not,” Rob says, even though he knows he is.

The two boys walk at the back of the pack, neither of them speaking to the other. Fernando sometimes skips a few steps forward to talk to the others, but most of the time he’s unusualy quiet and it makes Rob feel a little uneasy.

He doesn’t notice Felipe’s watching them too, until the teenager’s thoughts are screaming at him and it almost makes him physically jump.

“Are you ok?” he asks, even though he knows the answer.

Felipe nods, trying to drag his eyes away from the pool of red, and smiles weakly, even though he knows Rob won’t believe him. “Am fine.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Rob says. “Just do your best.”

“And if that isn’t good enough?” Felipe asks.

Rob sighs and slides his arm around Felipe’s shoulder. “It will be.”

 

“This’ll be you soon,” Toto says, quietly, watching the Mercedes brothers practice with each other. “It’ll be weird.”

Susie nods. She’s gone quiet again all of a sudden and Toto doesn’t like it.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Susie says, trying to smile but it’s obviously forced.

“Susie?”

“I was just thinking,” she says, quietly. “I’m going to have to tell them before I can be assessed, right?”

“Right?” Toto says, slowly. He isn’t entirely sure where she’s going with this. That’s been the plan to all along, he’d thought.

“What if they’re angry that I haven’t told them?” Susie says. “Or I get disqualified or something?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Toto says. “Do not think it’s even possible to be angry at you.”

“But still…”

“Stop worrying about it,” Toto says. “If you’re so worried, we should tell them. Don’t even mention the tutoring and just tell them.”

“But then I won’t go to school.”

“Then don’t tell them,” Toto says. “You have two options: tell them, or don’t tell them.”

“I’m sorry,” Susie says, sensing the annoyance in Toto’s voice. “I’m just panicking. We’ll stick to how things are. I’ll worry about the rest later.”

Toto smiles weakly and puts an arm around Susie to hug her. “You’ve nothing to be sorry for. I’m not annoyed at you. It’s the thought of spending the day with these idiots.”

He nods back to Lewis and Nico, both of whom are in fits of giggles about something.

Susie sighs. “I don’t know how you put up with them.”

“Family,” Toto says. “What are you going to do?”


	17. Ferrari doing what they do best

“Do you think they’ll come over?” Felipe asks, watching the Ferrari family again. Rob and Susie have gone off to collect the tutors from the car park and Felipe finally feels like he can breathe again.

“Probably not,” Valtteri says, looking up from the cards in his hand. “Ferrari kids are never all that bothered with the rest of us.”

“What?” Felipe asks, confused. His own cards now lie abandoned on the table.

“They keep to themselves,” Valtteri says, watching the red family rather than his brother. “Obsessed with themselves if you ask me. They don’t even notice the rest of us exist, I think.”

“Sorry,” Felipe says, quietly, knowing it’s true.

“Oh,” Valtteri says, suddenly realising what he’s said. “No, not you. You were different. You’re a Williams.”

“Thanks,” Felipe says, quietly, but he doesn’t feel any better. He knows Valtteri’s right. It was never like they’d purposefully tried to exclude themselves from everyone else. It had just happened.

He looks back over to the people he has called his family for most of his life and gulps a little. He doesn’t want to be excluded. Secretly, and he’ll never tell any of the others this, he hopes they’ll come over.

 

“You still haven’t told me how things went with the lawyer,” Claire says as they wait in the car park for the tutors to arrive.

The meeting was only the day before, much later than Rob had hoped. Claire saw the man come in, go into the office with Rob, and saw him leave. She couldn’t hear anything that was said. The lawyer probably charmed the room or something. It was the kind of thing they would do.

“He said he’ll look over the contract,” Rob says.

“I thought he was already doing that.”

“I don’t know, that’s just what he said he’d do,” Rob says. He spots the tutors making their way towards them and gives a small wave. “There’s nothing else I can say about it, Claire. Please don’t ask.”

“You sound like you don’t even care when you say things like that,” Claire says.

“And you sound like you don’t even know me when you say things like that,” Rob replies. “Andrew! Jonathan! Morning!”

They manage to make small talk as they make their way back through the car park to the field. Rob isn’t sure, but he thinks they might have gotten away with convincing the tutors there was nothing wrong. Or at least, neither of the two of them bring it up.

“Rob?” Claire says, suddenly, when they’re halfway across the field. “Isn’t that the lawyer?”

She’s pointing towards the top end of the field and Rob doesn’t even have to look at the gazebos to know where her finger is aiming. It is the lawyer, speaking to some of the people under the Ferrari gazebo. He sighs, angry at himself for believing something as stupid as them having any hope, then marches off in their direction. He’s sick of playing their game now.

“Rob,” his old “friend”, Marco, calls when he sees him coming over. “Nice to see you’ve settled in.”

“Marco,” Rob says through gritted teeth.

The lawyer looks between the two of them and realises the mistake he’s made. He quickly makes his excuses and he leaves before Claire can even arrive.

“So you’re trying to get out of the contract,” Marco says. He’s not surprised. This isn’t the first time they’ve had a lawyer come to them, saying Rob’s been trying to change things.

“I just need to get Felipe some help,” Rob says. “And I can’t do that with your stupid confidentiality clauses.”

“Well, you knew what you were signing when you signed the document,” Marco says, a smug smile on his face that Rob wants very much to punch.

“I didn’t know half the risks involved, and you know it,” Rob snaps. “And I never had a choice to sign or not.”

“You did,” Marco points out.

“Not sign and you’d stop me being his tutor,” Rob says. “It wasn’t really much of a choice. You’d just find somebody else who would let you tear him apart.”

“Ah-ah,” Marco says, waving a finger. “Confidentiality. You wouldn’t want to break to contract, would you?”

The Italian’s eyes look past Rob. Rob doesn’t have to look to know where they’re looking. Valtteri.

“Fine,” Rob snaps. “Have it your way. You’re pathetic anyway, and I’m not getting in an argument.”

 

“Erm, hello,” Fernando says, uncertainly. He’s a little way away from the gazebo, but he doesn’t have to shout to get the boys’ attention.

Felipe looks up and grins without even thinking. He’s thankful when Fernando returns the smile. Then the arguments back in Italy hit him and the grin falls.

Valtteri stands before Felipe can say anything.

“Leave him alone.”

“Was just coming to say hello,” Fernando says, a little confused.

“Leave him alone,” Valtteri says again, taking a step towards Fernando. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”

“Oh, isn’t that sweet. Don’t mind me whilst I throw up.”

All three boys turn to the new comer. Valtteri physically deflates when he sees who it is.

Pastor leans against one of the poles holding the gazebo up, his arms crossed and smug grin on his face.

“Wow, not going to introduce me?” he asks, when Valtteri doesn’t say anything.

“Is Pastor,” Valtteri mumbles, his eyes on the floor, and he waves a hand in Pastor’s direction. He doesn’t need an introduction. The amount of disasters he’s caused in his physical assessment, everyone knows who he is.

“This one must be my replacement,” Pastor says, turning to Felipe. “Strange, Val. I never thought Claire would manage to find anyone who needed _you_ to defend them.”

“Leave him alone,” Felipe says, but his voice isn’t half as powerful as Valtteri’s was when he was speaking to Fernando. “Is a better person than you’ll ever be.”

“Whatever,” Pastor says, turning back to Valtteri. “Funny. He doesn’t even want to be here, does he? You want to be over with the reds, don’t you Lipe?”

“No,” Felipe says, quickly. He’s looking at Fernando as he says it. He wants Fernando to see he’s lying, but they were never close enough for that. “Belong here.”

“Well, that’s for sure,” Pastor says. “They have all the misfits together at Williams, don’t they Val?”

“Leave him alone,” Felipe says again.

Pastor laughs and is about to reply when something sends him flying. A burst of energy flies straight into Pastor’s chest and the force knocks him about ten feet, through the table Valtteri and Felipe had been sat at. The entire field goes silent in an instant, and there’s a moment or two of stillness before everyone rushes over to see if they’re ok.

Toto stares at a shaking Susie, not quite able to believe the only answer that his brain can provide.


	18. Strange powers and awful conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is some more. Hopefully you're still liking it. Comments for improvement (I know it needs some, so please be constructive) are always welcome. :)

Whilst everyone’s still huddled around gazebo nine, Toto pulls Susie away and into the over grown bushes that surround the field. She’s still shaking, as much in shock as Toto is.

“You did that?”

“I didn’t mean to,” Susie says, quickly, still staring at the mess she’s created.

“How did you do that?”

“I didn’t mean to,” she says again, tears beginning to well in her eyes when she hears the fear in Toto’s voice. If he’s scared too, then she’s going to be in trouble. “I just wanted Pastor to stop.”

“You’ve not got control of your non-phys,” Toto says. “How did you get your physical power?”

“I don’t know,” Susie says. “This is the first time that’s ever happened. What are we going to do?”

_We?_

Toto almost asks. Almost asks why this is his problem as well. But, even if he hadn’t agreed to keep Susie’s powers a secret in the first place, he knows any problem of Susie’s will always be a problem of his.

“I don’t know,” he says. He tries to think of someone they can go to for help, but he knows Susie’s not going to agree to tell Claire and Rob, let alone anyone in his family. “We’ll sort it, ok?”

“How?”

“I don’t know,” Toto says again. “Just, try to stay calm, alright? Stay calm and act normal.”

“I’m going to be in so much trouble when they find out,” Susie mumbles.

“Hey, no you’re not,” Toto says. “This isn’t your fault. You didn’t mean to, right? And they’re not going to find out. Not until you want them to, anyway.”

For a second, he pulls Susie towards him and holds her tight. He can feel she’s still trembling, but he doesn’t know if that’s out of fear or due to the energy she’s lost.

“Come on,” he says, pulling away and leading her back to the field. “People are going to wonder where we are.”

 

“You’re ok?” Claire says. “You’re both ok?”

“Am fine,” Felipe says, quietly. Physically, he’s fine.

Valtteri just nods, unable to take his eyes off of Pastor. He seems ok, and is shrugging away the people who rushed over to help him. People are muttering that he’s used to this kind of thing and, even though it’s true, he can’t help but feel bad for him.

“What happened?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” Claire says, looking around for Susie. She wants all the kids together if there’s something strange going on, so she can keep an eye on them all. “Just stay here for me, I’ll be back in a second.”

She slides away as the crowd that had gathered around Pastor begins to disperse. Somebody, thankfully, takes Pastor with them, and the Williams boys are left alone.

“Where’s Rob?” Felipe asks, scanning the crowd.

Valtteri shrugs. “Probably busy.”

“Am just going to go to find him,” Felipe says, his eyes on the Ferrari family member taking Fernando back to their gazebo.

Valtteri shrugs again and begins to collect up the cards that were scattered all over the place when Pastor crashed through the table. He doesn’t look up when Felipe leaves, but he knows where he’s gone. Maybe Pastor is right. Felipe doesn’t want to be with them and, no matter how hard they try, he’s never going to.

“Nando,” Felipe calls, hoping he’s quiet enough so that Valtteri can’t hear him.

Fernando falls to a stop behind the person he’s following and Felipe skips to a hault beside him.

“Was that you?” he asks, because he can’t think of anything else to say.

Fernando shakes his head. “You know I can’t do things like that,” he says.

“Yeah,” Felipe says, and they begin to walk again. “Just… why did you come over?”

“Wanted to say hello,” Fernando says. “Did not know it was going to offend your attack dog.”

“Valtteri’s just protective,” Felipe says. He doesn’t want to show how hurt he really is. Valtteri’s his brother, whether he likes it or not. He cares about him. “Is just trying to be a good brother.”

“Why does he think you need protecting from me?” Fernando asks.

“Because you’ve upset me,” Felipe says. He can’t believe Fernando has forgotten what happened so soon. The last few weeks he’d stayed with Ferrari had been a blur of arguments and tears. Fernando _can’t_ have forget that.

He hasn’t. “Oh,” he says quietly. “Yes. They know about that?”

“Yeah,” Felipe says.

“You told them?”

“They figure things out,” Felipe says. He doesn’t think he’s ever admitted aloud what Fernando did, even to himself.

“I never really meant any of what I said,” Fernando said. “I was just angry. You were leaving me.”

“Didn’t have to,” Felipe reminds him. “Could maybe have stayed, but when they asked you what you thought you said it would be better if I was gone.”

“I didn’t…”

“You did,” Felipe says. “You left me before I left you.”

“I didn’t mean it,” Fernando says, but Felipe isn’t listening.

“You’re the reason I had to leave,” he says. “You were the one telling them we didn’t fit together. Never once stood up for me. Just sat back and let them tell me I didn’t belong.”

“You didn’t,” Fernando says, quietly, not looking at him.

“And you wonder why I left?” Felipe cries. “Do not understand you, Fernando. Is a good job we’re not brothers, or else neither of us would have any hope.”

He stops walking beside Fernando and heads back in the direction of his own family gazebo, ignoring Fernando calling after him.


	19. Teenage crushes, or lack of them, and assessments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are assessed and Susie is traumatised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for the bad writing. I'm not too good at world building and some things here might sound really stupid but they just made sense in my head and I didn't know how else to explain them.

The assessment is long. Each child is assessed individually, but everyone must wait until everyone else is finished before they are allowed to leave. It’s another one of the stupid rules Rob wishes doesn’t exist. They’re all sat around the table, the game of cards they had been playing deemed too boring to continue. Conversation dried up a while ago, even for Susie, and Valtteri wonders if she’s a little ill. Once the assessment has begun, everyone’s advised to stay with their families whilst they wait, which means they’re all stuck there until the whole thing is over.

“We could play eye spy,” Rob suggests when the silence and boredom has become too much.

“No,” Felipe says, without even looking up. He’s had enough of Rob’s eye spy games to last him a lifetime.

“You could be practicing,” Claire suggests.

“Is too late to practice now,” Valtteri says, quietly. “Not enough time to do anything new.”

Claire shrugs. She’s never had to have an assessment, her power developed as soon as she got it.

They fall into the silence again and Rob isn’t the only one wondering why they waste their afternoons, when Frank appears, sat between Valtteri and Susie at the table.

“What did I miss?” he asks.

“Nothing,” Claire says. “You could probably go away and come back in half an hour and you still wouldn’t have missed anything.”

But she knew her dad never liked to miss one moment of the assessments. They weren’t the same as when he had been developing his power, but the excitement was still there, he claimed. He’d been the only one able to stay in for the boiler man, though, and they couldn’t really put that off any longer.

“Pastor came over,” Valtteri says. “But… something weird happened.”

The weird thing is probably what is taking the assessors so long to get between power possessors. Rumours have quickly circled that they’re trying to find out who made the attack and it wouldn’t surprise any of them.

Susie squirms a little in her seat at the mention of the occurrence. It goes unnoticed. Mostly.

“You’re quiet,” Frank says.

“Bored,” Susie says.

“You’re not normally bored,” Frank points out.

“Yeah, but today I am,” Susie says, quietly. She glances over to the Mercedes family gazebo, where Lewis and Nico are still showing off to one another. Unsurprisingly, Toto is looking back. When she gives him a small smile, he returns it.

“Ah,” Frank says, when he catches the look. “Love.”

“No,” Susie says, almost as definitely as Felipe had declined Rob’s game.

“Aww,” Claire says, in a way she doesn’t mean to be patronizing but is. “Susie, you should have said.”

It makes sense now, the amount of time she’s been spending with Toto, and Claire wonders why she didn’t see it sooner.

“It’s not _love_ ,” Susie practically spits out the word as if it tastes like soap.

It only makes Claire grin more. “There’s nothing to be ashamed about. When I was your age, I had this crush on a power possessor.”

“We don’t need to hear this,” Valtteri says, quickly, somehow resisting the urge to make gagging noises.

“Nothing happened,” Claire says. “He was much older than me anyway.”

“We don’t need to hear this,” Valtteri says, again, the gagging noises urge growing.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a crush,” Claire says.

“I don’t have a crush on Toto,” Susie says.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Claire says.

“Yeah, but I don’t have a crush,” Susie says. She knows she’s bright red, and that isn’t helping her case in the slightest. “Toto’s my friend.”

“There’s nothing wrong-.”

“I. Do. Not. Have. A. Crush. On. Toto,” Susie spells out, wishing Claire would stop grinning at her like that.

“Alright,” Claire says, eventually, but it’s clear she doesn’t believe a word Susie is saying.

Susie glances back over to the Mercedes lot, wondering if Toto’s heard any of that, but he doesn’t seem to be paying attention anymore. She mentally groans. If he’s heard that, there’s another thing that’s going to come between them.

“And Williams,” the assessors say as they come to the Williams’ gazebo. “Afternoon.”

Today the assessors are two men, one an old power possessor, David, and the other having grown up into this role, Eddie. Rob almost smiles when he sees them. There are two sets of assessors and Eddie and David are definitely the nicer or the two, the others out to cause trouble whenever they can.

“You all look so cheerful,” Eddie laughs, taking a seat at the table.

“It’s a long day,” Claire says.

“I know,” David agrees. “We try to get this done more quickly every time, but we’re all just jumping through hoops. Anyway, let’s get started. Who wants to go first?”

Valtteri and Felipe look at each other, waiting for the other to agree to go first. Felipe knows he should – he’s been doing the assessments for longer and he should be used to them by now – but he still waits to see if Valtteri will. Valtteri isn’t so sure. He’s so used to “not showing off” he doesn’t know if he can go first.

“I’ll do it,” Felipe mumbles after a few seconds of silence. “Unless…”

“No, is fine,” Valtteri says, a little relieved.

Felipe and Eddie stand and follow David further into the open space, Andrew following behind. Rob nearly gets up, used to going after them, but corrects himself before he can do so.

“Good luck,” Claire calls after them.

“How are you feeling?” David asks as they walk.

“Not so good,” Felipe says. “Am not any better than the last time I was here.”

“Nonsense,” Eddie says, even though he’s done this enough time to know it’s probably true. “You’ve just got to give it your best shot.”

Felipe smiles weakly and nods but he doesn’t believe him. Neither one of them try anymore to convince him he’s wrong, and he’s thankful for that.

“So, what have you been working on?” David asks as he begins the usual routine.

“Just non-phys,” Andrew says. “I think it’s important he gets his non-phys under control before we go anywhere else.”

“Yeah,” Felipe agrees, because he knows he’s supposed to say something now, but he’s not entirely sure what.

“We are going to have to assess your physical too,” David reminds him.

“Yeah,” Felipe says. He knows this. He’s done this enough times to know that.

“Let’s start with non-phys though,” Eddie says when they’re far enough into the open space.

“Cannot just do it,” Felipe says. “Am maybe slightly better than before. Have actually managed to do it in practicing, but I don’t think I’m able to do it now.”

“Come on, you can’t say that without giving it a little try,” Eddie says, and Felipe knows he’s only trying to be encouraging but it’s a little tiring now. “You don’t lose anything by giving it a go.”

Felipe sighs a little and nods. Eddie and David both grin and David pulls from out of his bag one of the machine’s they use to measure the non-phys powers. It’s basically a metal tube, a little thinner than a wrist, with a box on the end. The box does some things Felipe doesn’t understand. All he knows is that it tells him he can’t control his powers and he should put more work into it next time. David offers him the device and, with another small sigh, Felipe wraps his hand around the tube and takes it.

 

Rob knows as he watches that this hasn’t gone well. Felipe’s thoughts are dark and full of frustration and Rob sinks further into his chair, knowing it’s his fault. Maybe he didn’t have a choice to sign the contract or not, but he could have gotten Felipe away from the Ferrari lot sooner and maybe none of this would have happened.

“Rob?” Frank asks and, on the third attempt, he finally catches Rob’s attention. “There’s no need to look so worried.”

“Yeah,” Rob says, trying to focus back on the card game he had started with Susie but neither of them are paying attention to it anyway. “Yeah, sorry. We’re not used to this… atmosphere.”

“There’s no need to be so worried,” Frank says again.

Rob nods again. When he looks up again, Felipe and the assessors are making their way back towards the gazebo, Andrew still following behind.

Same as always.

Rob can’t say he was expecting any different.

“Come on then, young Bottas,” Eddie calls. “You’re time to shine.”

He swaps places with Felipe without saying a word, but Claire grabs his hand before he can follow Eddie and David back into the middle of the field.

“Stay calm, alright,” she says. “Just do your best and that’s all that matters. It’s about you. Not anyone else.”

Valtteri nods and gives Claire a weak smile to try to convince her that he doesn’t need to be told this every time, before following the assessors, his own tutor walking beside him. Rob’s not surprised to hear how worried the teenager is about the assessment, but Claire’s pep talk has done nothing to change his thoughts.

Beside him, he can hear Felipe’s still worried.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says, automatically.

“Could not even get the box to pick up _anything_ ,” Felipe whispers.

“That doesn’t matter,” Frank says. “You gave it a try and if it didn’t work then it didn’t work. There was nothing else you could do about it.”

Claire looks up at Rob, but doesn’t say anything. Rob’s got one arm around Felipe, who fits against him so naturally Claire can’t disturb them. She watches Valtteri instead, his hand also around the non-phys device.

“Things will get better,” Rob says, quietly.

“You say that before,” Felipe mumbles.

“And things _are_ getting better,” Rob insists, but he knows Felipe doesn’t see things that way.

Valtteri pulls his hand away from the device as if it’s burned him and both assessors look down at the box, trying to read the scale. Valtteri looks up to Jonathan, confused.

“Something’s wrong with Valtteri,” Claire says, squinting to try to see what’s going on.

Rob also looks over to where the assessors are now questioning Valtteri with the same confused looks on their faces as Jonathan has. When he sees that Claire is right, he automatically pulls away from Felipe a little, confusion falling on his own face.

Up and down the field people are turning to watch whatever it is that’s going on with Valtteri.

Claire stands, instinctively, but Frank takes her hand before she can leave. They’re not allowed to interfere. Jonathan’s there for looking after them in the assessment.

“What’s wrong?” Susie asks, trying to see what’s going on.

“I’m not sure,” Rob says.

Eddie and David have gone back to peering at the box, then asking Jonathan questions, but he holds up his hands in denial.

Valtteri’s shaking, and now Claire’s standing and Frank can’t stop her from going to help. Before she can take two steps away from their gazebo, though, Valtteri flies into the air.

The entire field goes silent, watching as Valtteri continues to ascend until nobody can see him anymore. After a few seconds, the ascent turns into a fall. At least half a dozen people, including Claire and Rob, run into the field to catch him, but the fall stops a few feet above the ground and a very scared and confused looking Valtteri drops back down to earth.

“This has never happened before,” Jonathan tells the assessors but that much is clear by the look of panic on Valtteri’s face.

Claire wraps her arms around Valtteri and tries to get him to stop shaking whilst everyone else is asking if he’s alright. Valtteri nods as best he can whilst trapped in Claire’s hug, but nobody’s paying attention.

“So,” Jonathan says to Rob. “Valtteri flies. That one’s going to be easy to tutor.”

Rob just nods, not caring if Jonathan’s being sarcastic or not. He’s watching the Ferrari family and hoping he’s imagining the small smiles on their faces.


	20. After the assessment

“Was strange,” Valtteri says, sat cross legged on his bed. “Wasn’t like getting a non-phys.”

“Yeah,” Felipe says from the other end of the bed. He wonders if Valtteri knows how forced his smile is. He can’t help it. He’s _happy_ for Valtteri. He knows he is. But he can’t stop the tiny nagging voice in his head telling him he should hate him. There is no favourite child here, he tells the voice, and he’s not going to be second best. “Is kind of strange. Have never seen two more contradicting powers.”

“How do you mean?” Valtteri asks, uncertainly.

“Can make yourself so nobody notices you, but everybody notices you when you shoot off into the sky,” Felipe says, trying to force a laugh on the end. Trying to prove he’s ignoring the voice.

“Hmmm,” Valtteri says with a sheepish smile. “Maybe does not make so much sense.”

“Will soon be winning the assessments if are as quick with your physical power as you were with non-phys,” Felipe says.

“Claire says it isn’t a competition,” Valtteri says, quietly.

“Yeah,” Felipe says. “But will be good for someone to tell you you’ve done it.”

“Suppose,” Valtteri says, the dorky smile beginning to break onto his face. “Am sorry about your assessment, though.”

“I’m used to it by now,” Felipe says with a small shrug.

“Will get it someday,” Valtteri says. “Calmed me down from my nightmare.”

“Maybe that was just because we’re brothers,” Felipe says, and it still makes him shiver whenever he admits it.

“Do not really believe that, do you?” Valtteri says. “Have to believe in yourself, otherwise you’ll never get it, will you?”

“Suppose,” Felipe says, quietly.

“Right then,” Valtteri says, pushing himself off of the bed. “Am going down to get the hot chocolate from Rob. Are you coming?”

Felipe stands and follows Valtteri out of the room, trying to shake the jealous thoughts from his mind.

 

Rob’s in the kitchen making the hot chocolate when Claire comes in. She’s given up arguing with it now but she can’t help the look of disgust when she sees Rob stirring in the white powder.

“What are we going to do with him?” she asks, quietly.

“Jonathan will be able to help him control his non-phys,” Rob says. “Valtteri’s a quick learner. He’ll get a hand of the physical power in no time. Don’t worry.”

“I meant Felipe,” Claire says.

Rob stills for a moment. “Of course.”

“What does it mean that the lawyer went to see the Ferraris?” Claire asks.

Rob shrugs. “It probably won’t be good.” It’ll be the same as every other lawyer and Rob knows it. He’ll be told that even going through the contract is a breach of contract and _no_ they can’t do that, but they’ve done it anyway and there’s nothing he can do about it. There are a list of lawyers in the contract he can go to, but they all, coincidentally, happened to work for the family. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”

“You said he would be able to get this sorted out,” Claire says.

“I said maybe, and it turns out he can’t,” Rob says.

“Why can you not just break the contract,” Claire asks. “And don’t give me that shit about things getting worse.”

“They will get worse,” Rob says, trying not to snap. “If I break the contract, then Ferrari are able to come after any other power possessor I’m involved with. That includes Valtteri and it includes Susie. I’m protecting them.”

“How are they going to find out if you’ve told me?” Claire asks. “Come on, Rob. It sounds as if you _want_ to keep their contract.”

“They find out,” Rob actually does snap this time. He can’t help it. “They find out. I don’t know how, but they do.”

Why can’t she just listen to him? Doesn’t she understand he’s doing what’s best? Doesn’t she understand that he has tried to do every little thing he can think of to help Felipe? It is not going to happen.

“Fine,” she says, quietly.

“Claire, please don’t be like this,” Rob says, with a small sigh.

“Like what?” Claire asks, as if she doesn’t know.

“Like _this_ ,” Rob says. “I can’t change what’s happened. And us not getting on isn’t going to make things any better.”

“I just don’t understand what was going through your head when you signed something like that,” Claire says. She’s speaking quietly but the venom is still clear in his voice.

“I had to,” Rob says. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to tutor him and they would have found someone else who would do it.”

He knows it’s true and he hopes she realises that too. He’d tried to get them to change the contract, but when every other tutor on the planet wanted to work for the family, he didn’t have a lot of bargaining power.

“You could have…” But Claire can’t think of anything else he could have done, and Rob just nods, knoing he’s right. “It was still wrong.”

“Of course,” Rob says sarcastically.

The kitchen door swings open and Susie bounces into the room, looking a lot more like herself than she had been at the assessment.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Rob observes with a grin. “Feeling better now.”

“Yeah, thank you.”

“Susie, can I talk to you?” Claire asks.

“Yeah,” Susie says, slowly, letting Claire lead her back into the living room. Rob grins glad that, for once, this isn’t a problem he’s expected to solve.

The boys come in a couple of seconds later, much less cheerful than Susie, but Valtteri’s still grinning and that can only be a good thing.

“Here you are,” Rob says, standing aside so they can get the drinks. “You’ve got Jonathan all worried now, Valtteri.”

Valtteri’s grin widens as he brings the mug of hot chocolate to his face. For once, they’re noticing him and, for once, it’s because he’s doing good.

Felipe slides past Rob without saying a word, takes his drink and, still silent, goes back up to his room.


	21. The talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to post this one today because I really liked writing this chapter. :) Hope you enjoy. :)

“Susie, I think you’re ready now, and I think we need to have this talk before things go any further,” Claire says, sat beside Susie on the sofa. Susie’s watching her, confused and slightly scared. Claire can’t have figured out she has her powers. If she has, she would have come and spoken to her sooner, wouldn’t she? Claire laughs at the panic on Susie’s face. “You’re not in trouble. I just thought we need to talk about this. So that you know what’s going on and I can answer any questions you’ve got.”

“Ok,” Susie says, slowly, not calmed down in the slightest.

“You and Toto…”

“Oh mum,” Susie cries, all the tension gone in an instant. She goes to stand and march back up to her room but Claire grabs her hand.

“I know this is embarrassing, but we need to talk about this, Susie,” Claire says. “You’ve no need to be ashamed of anything you’re feeling.”

Susie eyes the cushions on the sofa, wondering how hard it’ll be to smother herself in one and end this now.

“I. Don’t. Like. Toto.”

“When I was your age…” Claire begins, but Susie groans loudly and decides she’ll give the smothering herself plan a chance, no matter how flawed it is.

“I know you had a crush. You told me.”

Claire almost laughs at her, but she knows that isn’t going to make her feel any better, so keeps her laughter minimised to a grin

“When I was your age, I had a crush on a power possessor,” she says, determined to tell the story. “He was probably the cutest guy I have ever seen, even now. One of the best at the assessments. Everyone admired him. And, when I was a little older than you, your granddad decided it would be a good idea to see if he was one of us.”

“Mum. Please. Stop.”

“And he was talking to your granddad one night and I wondered in there in my night clothes and it was probably one of the most embarrassing moments in all my life,” Claire says.

“Why are you telling me this?” Susie says, hoping the story’s near an end.

“Because everyone does embarrassing things and that’s ok,” Claire says. “You have nothing to worry about. And I know what it’s like to have a crush on somebody you’re quite close to.”

“What part of “I don’t have a crush on Toto” don’t you understand?” Susie asks. She feels like crying, a little.

“Ok, let’s say you don’t have a crush on Toto,” Claire says, humouring her a little. “Someday, probably quite soon, you’re going to start getting feelings for some people. And it might be weird. But it’s completely normal.”

“Mum, I really don’t want to have this conversation,” Susie says. “Can’t you just write me a letter?”

“Do you have any questions?” Claire asks. “Any at all. There’s no such things as a stupid question.”

“Can I go now?”

“Susie,” Claire sighs.

“Please?”

“I just want to make sure you’re safe,” Claire says. “You’re too young to get involved in… anything, and I want you to know that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.

“I’m not going to,” Susie insists. “Can I go now?”

“Promise me you’ll talk to me if you have any questions,” Claire says. “Or if you’re ever thinking of doing something or if Toto ever suggests doing anything.”

It still worries her a little that Toto’s a few years older than Susie, even if they are in the same year at school.

“I will come and tell you,” Susie says, hoping this doesn’t convince Claire that she’s lying about Toto.

“Alright,” Claire says. “Because I’m just trying to look after you. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know,” Susie says. “Can I go to bed now?”

“Go on,” Claire sighs with a smile and lets Susie go. Susie practically runs up the stairs to get away. Claire falls back in the chair, her eyes closed for a moment. When she opens them again, her father’s sat beside her.

“You handled that pretty well,” Frank says.

“Better than you did,” Claire says, smiling.

“Yes, I think a monkey could have handled that better than I did,” Franks says, mimicking his daughter’s smile. “You never told me you had a crush on Ayrton.”

“Of course I didn’t,” Claire says. “You gave me the talk. I was never going to start a conversation that could possibly fall back into that one.”

“I’m sorry,” Frank says.

“It’s ok. But… Yeah,” Claire says, blushing a little. “Why do you think Bruno had to leave?”

“Oh, Claire,” Frank says, his arms wrapped around his daughter in an instant. He may not have been very good at giving ‘the talk’, but he’s a pretty good hugger, and sometimes that’s more important.

“It’s every assessment, I have my heart in my throat for them,” Claire admits. “They’re just kids. They shouldn’t be doing all this. And then, today, I was so sure…”

“But Valtteri’s fine,” Frank says. “The assessments are much better organised than they were back then, and you know it. And the tutors are much better at preparing these days too. You’ve nothing to worry about.”

“I know that,” Claire says. “But I can’t help it.”


	22. Jealousy is ugly

Jonathan doesn’t know where to begin when he comes back to tutor again two days after the assessment. Things start slowly, with just trying to get Valtteri to describe how he felt when he had been flying, and trying to get him to start off the power himself. Jonathan doesn’t expect complete control by the end of the first week, nobody does, but Valtteri’s definitely learning fast.

Toto’s still trying to figure out what happened at the assessment. Susie’s made a little progress on her non-phys power, but it’s nowhere near the level of control she needs to develop her physical power. He’s not entirely sure how to ask somebody about this without letting them know what’s really going on, and he knows Susie will hate him forever if he lets her secret slip.

The progress on her non-phys power is slow, but steady, which can only be expected when she doesn’t have a real tutor, as Toto keeps reminding her.

Needless to say, Susie doesn’t mention anything Claire talked about to Toto. She isn’t going to let something so silly ruin their friendship.

Andrew’s not entirely sure how, but Felipe is getting worse. They had made what he had thought was a little progress in the couple of weeks leading up to the assessment, but all that’s gone now, and they’re back to the beginning. Again.

 

“Is weird, flying,” Valtteri tells Rob. He’s sat at the kitchen table as Rob prepares dinner.

“I can imagine,” Rob says, laughing. “A good weird or a bad weird.”

“I don’t know,” Valtteri admits. “Just a kind of weird. Is not even just the flying, maybe. Is maybe the attention as well.”

“You’re not used to the attention, are you?” Rob says, the grin on his face difficult to remove, not that he’s trying. He can’t remember the last time someone he cared about was actually happy because of their powers and the happiness is infectious.

“Not really,” Valtteri admits.

“Do you like it?” Rob asks.

Valtteri grins sheepishly down at the table, his cheeks tinged pink as if he’s embarrassed to actually admit it. “Maybe a little.”

“You should be proud of yourself,” Rob says, leaning on the kitchen counter now that the vegetable chopping his forgotten. “I am. And Claire is.”

“Thank you,” Valtteri says, still smiling down at the table.

Felipe stands in the doorway, watching for a little longer than he had planned to and a little longer than he wants to, but he can’t move. He’s not entirely sure when he managed to make himself invisible to Rob, but it’s happened. And he doesn’t like it.

“Hey,” Rob calls when he eventually spots him lingering in the doorway. “How did things go with Andrew?”

“Not so good,” Felipe says, quietly, coming a little further into the kitchen now he’s been noticed. “Says I have gone backwards.”

“Backwards?” Rob says.

Felipe nods and comes to sit opposite Valtteri at the kitchen table. “Am never going to get better, Rob, am I?”

“Of course you are,” Rob says, and he goes back to chopping the vegetables. “You’re already getting better.”

It’s no good. Rob isn’t the same as he was before and Felipe can’t just ignore the voice in his head anymore. Rob’s been changing ever since they moved in with the Williams family, but it’s been worse since the assessment…

“Think I will go out for a walk,” Felipe says quietly, standing again.

“It’s raining?” Rob says.

“Need to go for a walk,” Felipe says.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Valtteri asks, already getting out of his chair, but Felipe shakes his head and he sits back down.

“Won’t be long,” he says, watching Rob, but Rob doesn’t turn around again.

Rob’s trying to keep his hands steady as he chops the carrots so he doesn’t chop a finger off, but it’s not working. Coming here was supposed to help Felipe but it isn’t. Maybe nothing will. And that’ll be his fault. No matter what he tells Claire, he could have stopped them. And he didn’t.

 

“How far are you going to go?” Toto asks, walking with Susie back to her house after school.

Susie shrugs. “Until I think I’m ready,” she says, walking slowly as she thinks about it. She’s not sure if she’ll ever be ready. “Or until you get sick of me.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen for a very long time,” Toto says, smiling.

“See? This is why you’re my best friend,” Susie tells him, smiling back.

“And that’s why you haven’t invited me round for dinner in ages,” Toto says. It’s true and he’s been trying to pretend it’s nothing, but it’s still bugging him. It was almost routine, before. He’d spend as much time at with the Williams family as Susie did with Mercedes. But things have changed, and he doesn’t like it.

“Yeah,” Susie says, her smile gone and her eyes on a rock she’s focusing on kicking down the street. “Claire’s being a little weird at the moment.”

“Weird how?” Toto asks.

Susie shakes her head but she knows now she’s brought it up she’s going to have to tell him. Toto doesn’t let things drop until he knows what he wants to know, one of the qualities about him that really annoys Susie. She sighs, looks up at him, then back down at the rock. “She thinks there’s something going on between us.”

“Something…?” Toto says, slowly.

“Something that required her to tell me about how she had a crush on a power possessor when she was my age,” Susie says, hoping that’ll answer that question.

“Really?”

“Really what?” Susie asks. “Really she had a crush or really she thinks I do?”

“Both, I guess,” Toto says. He thinks about it longer, his grin widening as he does so until he’s struggling to keep in his laughter.

“Toto,” Susie moans, a little relieved that he isn’t taking this as seriously as Claire has been. “It’s not funny. Valtteri and Felipe have been tormenting me for days over this.”

“Sorry,” Toto says, still trying to stop himself laughing and getting a slap on the arm from Susie for his efforts. “I guess it’s a good cover story, though.”

“Cover for what?” Susie asks. “I’m not pretending I like you. I mean, I like you. But not like they’re trying to say.”

It only makes Toto laugh more and it’s really beginning to annoy Susie now. She’s had to put up with this since the assessment. Every time she walks into a room, one of the boys will start laughing or Claire will make some awful comment about going to see Toto and being safe. Like she’d even think about doing anything that could require being safe. It’s been a long couple of days. She’d thought she would at least get some sympathy from Toto, the way Lewis and Nico laugh at him whenever they’re together, but obviously not.

“If you let them think whatever it is they think is going on, they’re not going to question you being at mine all the time,” Toto says. “And if you don’t want them to find out about your powers…”

“We’re not going out,” Susie said, definitely.

“Of course not,” Toto said. “That would be weird. And wrong.”

“Yes.”

“But if you want to, to keep the secret, I’ll play along,” Toto says.

Susie stops and looks up at him. “This is going to end really badly, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t have to.”


	23. Sometimes Talking Helps

Felipe and Valtteri never actually got around to the trip into town, and now Felipe is wondering aimlessly through streets he doesn’t recognise with no idea where he is or where he’s going, as long as it’s away.

The nagging voice in his head, the one that’s telling him he should be jealous and that he is second best and that everything Rob’s told him is a lie, is laughing right now. Because it’s right. Maybe Rob isn’t lying. Maybe he genuinely can’t see what they’re doing. Maybe it’s just an automatic reaction. Felipe can’t say he blames him.

Maybe a little.

It isn’t Rob’s fault and it isn’t Valtteri’s fault. He can’t help that he’s good. He’s not showing off about it. He’s not asking them to pay attention to him.

This is his fault. Because if he could control his powers, Rob and Claire would be proud of him too. If he could control his powers, they would care about him going out for walks in the rain. If he was just better, Rob would be able to look at him. But he’s not. He’s just a disappointment. Like he’s always been.

“Hey.”

Felipe almost groans at the voice. He stops walking, but doesn’t turn around, hoping maybe Valtteri will leave him alone. But then he hears the puddles behind him splash and the Finn is at his side in an instant. Felipe rolls his eyes and starts walking again, Valtteri following behind him.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Felipe lies. “Just wanted to be alone for a while.”

“Are you sure?” Valtteri asks.

“I’m _fine_ ,” Felipe hisses. This time he really does groan because if there’s anything that’s going to convince him he’s lying, it’s that. “Really, I’m fine. I just wanted to be alone for a while.”

“Yeah, you said,” Valtteri says. “When I want to be alone, it’s because I don’t want to be alone.”

“That’s just weird,” Felipe says, not looking at Valtteri.

“I want people to ask what’s wrong with me,” Valtteri says.

“Am not you,” Felipe points out. That’s the problem. He’s not Valtteri. And he’s not Fernando, or Kimi, or Michael. He’s him and it’s not good enough.

They walk in silence for a while, Valtteri trying to come up with something to say and Felipe desperately wishing he would be left alone.

“I think are being a bit stupid,” Valtteri says, eventually. He’d tried to word it nicer but he wasn’t too good at using words.

“Thanks,” Felipe mumbles.

“What’s the matter?” Valtteri asks again and Felipe groans again.

“Nothing is the matter,” he says. “I just want to go for a walk. By myself.”

“In the rain,” Valtteri points out.

“Yes,” Felipe snaps. “Yes, because why not? Why is this such a big deal?”

“Because it isn’t true,” Valtteri says, quietly.

Felipe stops, shaking a little. He didn’t even realise his hands are in fists by his side, but now he does he unclenches them, rubbing them on the sides of his jeans to try to warm them up. He should have brought a jacket or something.

“Are you cold?” Valtteri asks, noticing the shiver.

“No,” Felipe mumbles, even though that’s obviously a lie.

Valtteri sighs and wraps his arms around his brother, rubbing his arms and back.

“What are you doing?” Felipe asks, uncertainly. Valtteri doesn’t _do_ hugs. It’s a Finnish thing.

“Now you are very not cold,” Valtteri says. “Should go home, it’s warmer there. Or there is a café around here somewhere I think.”

“I don’t have any money,” Felipe says, still trapped by Valtteri.

“I do,” Valtteri says, stepping away from him now. “Will show you where it is. Then you will talk and I will listen. Ok?”

The café isn’t that far away. It’s small, but brightly lit and it stands out in the murky, rain soaked streets like a sore thumb. The people behind the counter seem to know Valtteri well and Felipe’s a little surprised about how much they talk. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard Valtteri speak to anyone this much. There’s only one other person in the café: a man in a red jumper, engrossed in his newspaper with one hand on his mug. The mug never quite reaches his mouth, always stopping halfway between the table and his face when the man spots something in the paper.

Valtteri pays for the teas and sits at a table on the opposite side of the café to the man, still smiling. Felipe follows.

“What’s the matter?” he asks again, pushing one of the mugs towards Felipe.

“Is nothing really,” Felipe says, quietly. “You’re right. I’m just being stupid.”

“What about?” Valtteri asks.

Felipe shakes his head and takes the tea. It’s too hot to drink but Felipe sips it anyway, hoping this will get him out of answering the question, but it doesn’t.

“I’m jealous, ok?” he says, eventually.

Valtteri’s smile falls into a confused frown. “Jealous? Of me?”

Felipe nods. “Just want to be able to do what you do, but I can’t,” he says quietly. “Am just second best again. Don’t really know why I thought it would be any different.”

“There is no second best here,” Valtteri says.

Felipe rolls his eyes. He’s pretty sick of being told that now. “Maybe they do not mean to have a second best, but they do,” he says. “Have seen the way Rob is with you. And Claire. You make them so happy.”

“So do you,” Valtteri says.

“But I don’t,” Felipe says. “I’m the one that makes them argue. I’m the one making everyone unhappy.”

“Well, that’s not true,” Valtteri says.

“Is,” Felipe says. “You hear them shouting, don’t you?”

They’ve both heard Rob and Claire shouting at one another when they think they’re upstairs and can’t hear them anymore. Valtteri had hoped they would have realised they can still hear them, but they haven’t yet. Even though they don’t hear the arguments word for word, Felipe’s name comes up a lot.

“Would be better if I just left,” Felipe says, quietly, peering into his mug and watching the tea settle as he put it down. “Would probably not even notice.”

“I would,” Valtteri says. “And Susie, and Rob, and Claire. Have you spoken to Rob and Claire about this?”

Felipe scoffs and picks up the mug of tea again. “Of course not. Rob will just say same as always. Tell me it isn’t true and tell me I’m being stupid. He doesn’t _listen_.”

“Have you tried Claire?” Valtteri asks. “Can be quite good at listening. Is always trying to get me to talk to her, even when I have nothing to talk about. Could give it a try.”

“Claire only wants me here because I calm you down,” Felipe mumbles.

Valtteri opens his mouth to tell him that’s not true but something stops him. He believes that. He genuinely believes that. And everything else as well. And being _told_ that isn’t true only makes things worse.

“We need to go home,” Valtteri says instead, standing.

“Have not even touched your tea,” Felipe says, and Valtteri can’t help but think how well he’s doing to adjusting to British life.

“Is ok,” he says, before turning back to the woman behind the counter. “Could we get these in something to go?”

“Can’t make up your minds, can you?” the woman said, grinning as she takes the mugs of tea back behind the counter.

“Why do we suddenly have to go back?” Felipe asks.

“Because,” Valtteri says. “Dinner.”

“Can wait until we have finished the tea?” Felipe says, confused.

“No it can’t,” Valtteri says, taking the polystyrene cups from the woman behind the counter and handing one to Felipe. “Come on.”


	24. The beautiful English weather

“Where are the boys?” Claire asks when she comes in to see how long dinner will be. The house feels empty without the children. She’s been with her dad most of the day, avoiding Rob.

“Felipe went for a walk and Valtteri went with him,” Rob said, trying to focus as hard as he could on making sure none of the pots boil over.

“It’s raining,” Claire observes.

“That’s what I said,” Rob said, quietly.

Claire’s quiet for a moment, peering out of the kitchen window at the rain now coming down in sheets outside. It’s a lot of rain, the path running down the garden now more like a river. She shivers, the memory of the flood that catches her off guard as always.

“Aren’t you worried about them?” she asks, after a while.

“They look after each other,” Rob says. “I’m as worried about them now as I am when they’re at home.”

“And in the assessments?” Claire asks, suddenly. She needs to be told she’s not the only one worrying. She needs to be told she’s not being an idiot.

Rob turns to see her still watching the rain outside and sighs.

“Of course I worry in the assessments,” he says. “There are about a million things that can go wrong and, sure, they’ve tested everything and they’ve got procedures for if something does go wrong, but sometimes things still happen.”

Sometimes things still happen. It’s been a long time since something happened, but Rob never stops thinking about it. Felipe was, at the time, the only family he’d known he had, and they’d come so close to that being gone forever that it made Rob feel a little sick even thinking about it. You put a bunch of kids with powers they’re unable to control in a field together and expect nobody to get hurt… it really is madness and, no matter what safety procedures they have, it’s never going to be enough.

“But we still we send them,” Claire says, quietly. “Still we make them do it.”

“Because what’s the alternative?” Rob replies.

 

Valtteri and Felipe are huddled together in the doorway of a shutdown shop, the only shelter they could find, both soaked through. The rain had become very heavy very suddenly. Tea had been abandoned as they ran for the nearest shelter and, looking back now, that had been a pretty stupid thing to do.

Valtteri pushes himself further back into the shop door, watching the rain with wide eyes that Felipe hasn’t noticed yet. He wants to close his eyes and pretend they’re somewhere warm and dry, but every time he does close his eyes, he’s back in the room, struggling to keep his head above the water, struggling to breathe…

“Valtteri?” Felipe asks, finally noticing.

“I’m fine,” Valtteri lies.

“What is wrong?” Felipe asks. “A little bit of rain never killed anyone.”

But it’s not a little bit of rain. Valtteri can cope with a little bit of rain. This is a storm.

There’s nobody else in the street and the main road at the end of the street is too far away to pay attention to. The sky is dark but not dark enough to set the street lights off. For all they know, they could be alone. They could be swept away by the storm and nobody would notice.

“Valtteri, what is wrong?” Felipe asks again, his hand automatically going to Valtteri’s wrist and Valtteri doesn’t have the awareness to shake it off. He’s still just staring at the rain, trying to convince himself that it’s ok.

“The flood,” he says, quietly, barely able to speak.

“The flood?” Felipe asks, not sure if he’s heard properly. He has to yell to hear himself, the rain coming down so hard and drumming on the pavement.

Valtteri nods, his mouth clamped shut now. He’s scared that, if he opens it, he might be sick.

“What flood?” Felipe asks, his hand still around Valtteri’s wrist.

Valtteri shakes his head, unable to speak. He hasn’t told Felipe about the flood, or what he has nightmares about. He already knows about most of what Pastor did. He doesn’t need to know about this. He doesn’t need to know how pathetic he was…

“Come on,” Felipe says, trying to pull Valtteri away from the door. “The house is not far now.”

Valtteri shakes his head, sticking to the door like glue. It’s two streets away. He can’t manage two streets.

“Cannot just stay here,” Felipe says. “Do not know when this is going to finish. Could be all night.”

But Valtteri doesn’t move. He can’t. Rob or Claire will come looking for them if it gets too late. Claire will figure out what’s wrong and come looking for them and bring them home.

Felipe peers down the street. He takes a step out of their hiding place but Valtteri quickly tugs him back inside. He’d thought he might be able to go and get some help, but that doesn’t look likely.

“Don’t go,” Valtteri manages to say. “Too dangerous.”

“I’ll be fine,” Felipe says, a little confused as to what’s brought on the sudden panic.

“Stay here,” Valtteri says, his eyes closed now. “You’re helping.”

And he is. He has to be. Because now Valtteri can close his eyes and there aren’t waves crashing over his head.

Felipe looks down at his hand still wraps around Valtteri’s wrist and moves a little closer, so they’re both squashed against the very back of their small piece of shelter.

“It will be ok,” Felipe says, no longer shouting. “Promise.”

Valtteri doesn’t react and Felipe isn’t sure if his words are lost to the rain, but that doesn’t matter. The words will do nothing anyway. He focuses instead on calming Valtteri. He watches the Finn’s breathing slowly begin to go back to normal and can’t help the small bubble of joy he gets himself from it. It’s still nothing. Valtteri’s still a panicking mess. But it’s a little bit better. It’s better than he’s been able to do in assessments.

“See?” Valtteri whispers.

“See what?”

But Valtteri doesn’t reply, squeezing his eyes shut tighter as he focuses on what his brother’s powers are doing.

As suddenly as it had started, the storm stops, and the rain is reduced to a light trickle. It’s sudden enough to make Felipe jump and the connection between the two of them is broken. Valtteri opens his eyes at the loss of contact, his breathing already becoming erratic after less than a second, but then he sees the sky beginning to lighten and he calms.

“That’s odd,” he says, quietly, still trying to get his breath back.

“Yeah,” Felipe says, frowning at the weather. “Is an English thing?”

“Probably,” Valtteri says, letting Felipe lead him out of their shelter. Neither of the boys notice the man in the red jumper from the cafe, stood a little way back down the street, completely dry.


	25. Proud Parents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for short chapters and for not much happening in them.

“What on earth happened?” Claire asks, as if she needs to, when the boys return home soaking wet.

“It’s raining,” Valtteri says, as if he needs to.

“You’ve been gone hours,” Rob says, trying to sound annoyed rather than relieved that they’re back.

“Sorry,” Felipe says, quietly. “Is my fault. Went for a walk and just didn’t stop.”

“Well, you’re back now,” Claire says. “That’s all that matters. And you’re freezing. Didn’t you think to take a jacket?”

“Forgot,” Felipe says.

“Yes, well,” Claire says, trying to resist the urge to hug them both. “Go and get changed and then you can come and have some dinner.”

She smiles as both boys nod and Valtteri begins to head up the stairs. He turns when he notices Felipe isn’t following but Felipe just smiles and nods and Valtteri heads up alone.

“Could I talk to you Claire?” Felipe asks. His eyes flick over to Rob, but then they’re back on Claire.

“Yeah, sure,” Claire says with a smile that comes easily to her. “What’s up?”

Felipe’s eyes flick up to Rob again and he seems to get the message. “I’ll go and sort out dinner and leave you two to it, hey?”

“Thank you,” Felipe says quietly, following Claire to te sofa, and they both sit down.

“What’s up?”

“Valtteri says I should try talking to you,” Felipe says. “Do not know but he says it will help.”

“It probably will,” Claire says. “I’ll do my best.”

Felipe takes a deep breath, trying to figure out what he’s actually going to say. It had come so easily with Valtteri, but he can’t even really remember what he had told him.

“Does not feel right here,” Felipe says, slowly.

“Right?” Claire asks.

No, that isn’t what he wants to say.

“Mean, it does feel right, but I do not feel… happy.”

That’s no better, not really.

“You don’t seem happy,” Claire says. “What’s not making you happy?”

“You,” he says and he doesn’t mean it to come out as bluntly as it does, but there’s no taking it back now. “Mean, you and Rob. You like Valtteri more than me. And I do not blame you, not really, but keep saying that it’s not true and it is and that is the worst bit.”

When he falls silently, Claire doesn’t speak for a while, waiting to hear if there’s anymore. Felipe isn’t looking at her now, something fascinating on the end of his shoe catching his eye.

“We don’t like Valtteri more than you, Felipe,” Claire says, softly, but he doesn’t think that will help.

Felipe rolls his eyes, still not looking up from his shoes. “Are just saying that because you have to. Cannot admit to liking one child more than the other.”

“We don’t,” Claire says, but she has no idea how to convince him otherwise. “What makes you think that?”

“Is true,” Felipe says. “Am just a disappointment and always have been. Valtteri makes you happy. Have seen the way you are with him and would maybe be ok if it were you because have known him longer than me and it makes sense, but is the same with Rob, and there is no excuse there. Just that Valtteri makes you both happy, and I don’t.”

Again, Claire doesn’t speak when Felipe falls silent. He’s beginning to think this will be a waste of time. Valtteri’s the only one who really understands him, but he can’t do anything about it, short of doing what he’s always done and stops being attention worthy, but Felipe will never ask him for that. He knows he’ll never ask him for that.

“You both make me very happy,” Claire says, eventually. “And I can’t speak for Rob but I think he feels the same way.”

That doesn’t help.

“What makes you think otherwise?”

“Have _seen_ the way you are with him,” Felipe says, trying to stay calm. “Is like everyone was with Fernando. And you are not that way with me.”

The silence is longer this time, because Claire has no idea what she can say in answer of that. She’s never noticed it. Obviously she knows she’s been going out of her way to make sure Valtteri has been getting the praise he deserves ever since Pastor left, trying to undo the damage that he left, but she hadn’t thought it would have any negative effects. She hadn’t thought Felipe would really care about it.

“We can be that way if you want us to,” Claire says, eventually.

“I want _you_ to want to,” Felipe says. “Want to be the one you are proud of.”

“Can be proud of more than one of you,” Claire says.

“Yes, but you don’t,” Felipe says. “Nobody ever is. And I get it. I get _why_ you are proud of Valtteri and not of me. Is _my_ fault… Do not even know why I am telling you this. Valtteri says it will help but it cannot. Will only help if I am better at my powers and _that_ is never going to happen, so…”

“Why isn’t that going to happen?” Claire asks quickly.

“Has not happened so far,” Felipe says. “Am going backwards now.”

He doesn’t mention being caught out in the storm. He doesn’t think Valtteri would appreciate that.

“You’ll get it eventually,” Claire says, softly. “And we are proud of you. We are so proud of you. Because you keep trying no matter what. And that is more important than being “good”. Much more important.”

Felipe still hasn’t looked up from his shoes, but now he takes a quick glance up to see that Claire has tears in her eyes. He looks away immediately, trying to convince himself that the tears are just because she’s lying, but that doesn’t make much sense to him.

“Are not the same with me as you are with Valtteri, though,” he says, quietly. “Are like they were with Fernando.”

“I don’t know why they were like this with Fernando, Felipe, but I’m not like this with Valtteri because I’m “proud” of him,” Claire says. “I am proud of him, but I go out of my way to show that because of how Pastor was. Has Valtteri told you about that?”

Felipe nods, once, but still doesn’t look up.

“He needs to know that everything Pastor was telling him wasn’t true,” Claire says. “That’s why I’m like this with him. And just because I’m not the same with you, doesn’t mean I’m not proud of you. Because I am.”

She isn’t sure if any of that has helped or not. Felipe is still refusing to look up at her and she can’t tell how he’s feeling. If she were to hazard a guess, it probably wouldn’t be very happy, but she can’t tell if that’s any happier than when he walked in.

“Has that helped?” she asks.

“Maybe,” he says. “I don’t know. Is just… maybe.”

“Is just what?” Claire asks, but Felipe shakes his head.

“Is nothing,” he says, standing. “Has helped. Thank you.”

“You can talk to me, you know,” Claire says and she thinks that if she has to tell them this she’s not doing a very good job of showing them. “It doesn’t matter what it’s about or how stupid you think it is. You can talk to me. That’s what I’m here for.”

He smiles weakly, his eyes not quite reaching Claire’s, and nods. “Thank you.”


	26. And this is the right place?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for short chapters, but stuff is starting to happen now!

It’s a Sunday, and the town centre is full of teenagers loitering about, putting off the work they have to do until that evening, the very last moment that they can do it in. Valtteri’s been sent on a mission to find Susie, as she’s not answering her phone and Claire thinks it would be nice for them all to have dinner together for once. He’s already been the Mercedes’ house, but neither Susie, nor Toto are there and the only other place he can think that they could be is in the town centre, with all the other kid’s their age. He’s not a huge fan of being around kid’s their age, wondering around in the drizzle, eating soggy chips and throwing them at pigeons. He doesn’t see much joy in it and cringes when he finds himself amongst the people that do.

It’s no good. He’s tried ever café and restaurant, but he can’t find them anywhere. He briefly considers checking the cinema and it would make a lot of sense for them to be there, if it were open at this time on a Sunday afternoon, but it isn’t. Short of calling out their names in the middle of the town centre, which sounds like the most unappealing way to spend his Sunday afternoons that he can think of, there’s nothing more he can do.

He’s about ready to turn and head back home when he sees someone waving at him. No, they’re just waving. He stops and looks around, but he can’t see who they’re waving to, and now they’re walking towards him. Yes, they were definitely walking towards him.

“Are Bottas, no?” the person, a boy only little older than him, asks when he’s close enough for them to speak. Valtteri recognises him from the assessments, but can’t place him.

“Yeah,” he says, slowly, still trying to figure out who he’s talking to, mentally crossing off names that he knows.

The boy seems to know what he’s thinking – maybe he does – and smirks. “Kimi,” he offers.

“Ah,” Valtteri says. Kimi, from Ferrari. For a moment everything makes sense, and then, very suddenly, it makes no sense what so ever. “What are you doing around here?”

Kimi shrugs. “Holiday or something. Pretty crap holiday.”

“Is not much to do here but be rained on,” Valtteri agrees.

“Think they are visiting family or something,” Kimi says, shrugging again. They’ve started walking, Valtteri notices, but not in any particular direction. “Do not really know. Do not really care. Is boring.”

“Explains why you’re here,” Valtteri says, gesturing around at the town centre. “Though is not much less boring here. Just wet.”

“Is more like home that Italy,” Kimi observes and Valtteri doesn’t really think he can deny that. “Saw you and recognised you from the assessments. Thought maybe you would be less boring than a pigeon.”

“Thanks,” Valtteri mutters, but he can’t stop the small grin. It’s honour enough that a Ferrari has deemed him interesting enough to talk to, let alone the fact that it’s Kimi Raikkonen, who Valtteri has heard rumoured doesn’t even talk to his brother than much.

“Was pretty spectacular in the assessment last week,” Kimi says.

Valtteri can feel the heat rising his cheeks and tries to stop himself blushing. “Thanks.”

“What family are you from?” Kimi asks.

“Williams,” Valtteri replies, proudly.

“Ah,” Kimi says. “Have been a long time with them?”

Valtteri nods. “A while. Since before I got my powers.”

“And think this is the right place?” Kimi asks. “Are sure?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are sure you are a William?” Kimi asks. “Do not look like one to me. Sure, you have the height, but is a pretty impressive power for a Williams, no?”

“I didn’t think it was about power type,” Valtteri says, slowly. “It’s about what feels right?”

“Are you sure it feels right?” Kimi asks him.

“Yes,” Valtteri says without thinking twice. Even when he does think again, he’s certain. He’s found his family.

“Are you sure?” Kimi asks, grabbing his wrist to stop him from walking into a road.

“Yes,” Valtteri says, slower this time. Why wouldn’t he be sure?

“Are the only family you’ve ever had,” Kimi says, leading Valtteri across the road. “Are only sure they are better than your blood family.

“I guess,” Valtteri says, slowly. “But… is a connection…”

“Ah,” Kimi says again, in the same way he had done before. Valtteri’s not sure if he likes it or not. “A _connection_.”

“Yes,” Valtteri says. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” Kimi says. “Are just… maybe… is possible to imagine connections. Have had other brothers? Have imagined connections with them?”

“This is different,” Valtteri says, but he’s already not entirely sure of that. This _was_ different. It felt right with Felipe. But it had felt right with Pastor to begin with. Things could change, easily…

Kimi nods at the confusion on the younger boys face and sighs. “Should get back,” he says. “Will be wondering where I am and start to panic.”

“Yeah,” Valtteri says, not really listening. He’s still trying to convince himself that Kimi’s wrong but, the more he thinks about it, the more he’s not so sure.

 

Valtteri finds Susie on his way back home, making her own way home. He’s been wondering about for a while, still trying to convince himself of what he had known was certain. Even if the connection isn’t there with Felipe – and he is sure it is – it’s definitely there with Claire and Susie and Rob. But if he has imagine it before, he can imagine it again. How does he _know_ it isn’t all imaginary?

“Valtteri?” Susie asks, catching up with him. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Valtteri says, shrugging her away when she tries to link arms. “Claire wants us all to have dinner together. Sent me out of find you.”

“Yeah, she phoned Toto,” Susie says. “What’s the matter?”

Valtteri shrugs again. “Nothing is the matter. Just have been wondering around in the rain looking for you for hours.”

“Sorry,” Susie says. “I was with Toto.”

“Well, I guessed that,” Valtteri says. He doesn’t even have the mind space to come up with a comment about his sister spending so much time with Toto. He doesn’t even care.

“Valtteri, something’s up. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Valtteri insists. “Am just cold and wet and want to get home.”

Without saying anything else, he marches ahead of Susie, ignoring her when she tries to keep up.

He’s certain this is his family. He knows it is.

But when he does eventually burst into the house and is greeted by a warm rush of hugs and then food, he’s pretty much convinced himself he’s wrong.


	27. "What's wrong?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got some messages yesterday to tell me that somebody didn't like my work and I just wanted to let people know that I welcome constructive criticism. I know this isn't very good, but I can't make it any better unless people tell me what it is about it that they don't like.  
> Sorry again for bad writing and small chapters.

Valtteri hovers about a meter from the ground, holds it for a couple of seconds, then drops back down to Earth. Jonathan left about an hour ago, but the next assessment is soon and he’s determined to get at least this part right.

Felipe watches from the garden bench, wrapped up in the thickest coat he could find. His brother hasn’t even put on a jacket and it’s worrying him a little. It’s definitely gotten colder since Felipe arrived, and it was cold enough to begin with.

“Are you not cold?” he asks, breaking Valtteri’s concentration and making him drop a couple of inches. “Sorry.”

“Is _fine_ ,” Valtteri says through gritted teeth, trying to get his focus back.

Felipe frowns. Valtteri has been acting odd for almost a week now. It has been hard not to notice. They still share the same bed most nights, but it’s most nights now, not every night. Felipe’s certain Valtteri isn’t sleeping when they’re alone, but he never complains about it. Days when the tutors don’t come are no longer spent playing video games. Valtteri has taken to immersing himself in books, and it is impossible to get him to remerge from them, or coming out into the garden to practice. Felipe’s been spending time with Frank, and Rob, and Claire, but it isn’t the same and he’s found himself hoping the tutors will come because at least then he can get some normality.

“What is wrong?” Felipe asks.

“Nothing is wrong,” Valtteri says and, with a sigh, he drops back down to Earth. He has no chance of getting a decent practice tonight if Felipe’s going to start this conversation again.

Felipe stands as his brother makes his way towards him.

“Said to me you said that when there was something wrong,” he points out.

“But this time there _is_ nothing wrong,” Valtteri says, brushing past Felipe to head into the house. Felipe follows him, quickly.

“Talk to me,” Felipe says.

“About what?”

“About what has changed,” Felipe says. “Are acting different and I want to know why.”

“Nothing has changed,” Valtteri says. “Am just trying to focus on getting this right.”

“But why?” Felipe asks.

“Some of us actually _want_ to be able to control our powers,” Valtteri snaps, leaving a dumb struck Felipe at the bottom of the stairs as he marches to his room.

 

“Something’s wrong with Valtteri,” Susie says quietly, walking beside Toto on their way home from school. “He’s acting like he was before.”

“Before what?”

“Before Felipe and Rob came,” Susie says. “But after Pastor left.”

Toto nods. Susie’s been quiet all day and he knew now that asking what was wrong was not going to get him an answer.

“Why?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” Susie says. “He’s been funny since Sunday. Claire sent him to find me and he hasn’t been quite right since. Do you think he knows about me?”

They’d been practicing in one of the parks that dotted the town centre. It wasn’t entirely unimaginable that Valtteri had stumbled across them on his wonders, but Toto shakes his head.

“Wouldn’t have made him like this, would it?” he says. “There’s something else wrong.”

“Like what?”

Toto shrugs. “Is your brother.”

“He never spoke to us before,” Susie says. “He never told us what Pastor was doing. What if something like that’s happening again?”

“Do you really think Felipe is capable of something like that,” Toto laughs, putting one arm around Susie and pulling her into a hug. “Is probably nothing wrong. Is just stressed about his physical power.”

“Nope,” Susie says. “He was fine with that before this weekend. I even saw him _smiling_ a couple of times. Something changed on Sunday, I’m certain of it.”

“Have you tried talking to him?” Toto asks.

“No,” Susie says, quietly, blushing a little. She knows she should try talking to him, but she had hoped Toto would have come up with a less drastic solution they could try first. “Talking won’t work. You know Valtteri.”

“Just give it a chance,” Toto says. “Worst case is that he does not talk to you and we have to think of something else.”

Susie sighs, coming to a stop when they reach the end of her garden.

“Do you want me to wait for you?”

Susie shakes her head. “Mum wants us all to have dinner together again. But I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

Toto smiles. “See you tomorrow. And try talking to him.”

“I will,” Susie promises, hurrying down her garden and into the house.”

 

Felipe’s sat in the kitchen when Claire and Rob return from doing the shopping. They’ve decided it’s best to do the shopping together, and have their arguments out there when there is little chance of the boys hearing. It’s not working. It only means they’re both still angry when they get home and the urge to continue the argument is hard to ignore.

All thoughts of arguing are gone when they spot Felipe, though.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asks first, dumping the shopping bags on the kitchen counter.

Felipe shakes his head. “Something is wrong with Valtteri and he will not tell me what.”

“What do you mean something’s wrong with Valtteri?” Claire asks, sitting opposite him.

Felipe shrugs, looks up at her, then back down to the table. “Do not know what. Won’t tell me. Has been acting funny all week, though.”

Claire’s noticed this, of course. She had thought that Valtteri and Felipe would be able to work it out between themselves and come to her if they had any problems. That seemed to be how the two of them worked, but apparently not.

“I’ll go up,” Rob volunteers.

Felipe spins around to glare at him because for a moment the voice in his head takes over, but Rob’s already out of the room and on his way up the stairs. Claire doesn’t miss the look. Just when she was certain things were going to work out for them.


	28. More Arguments

There door’s closed when Rob comes up the stairs, and he thinks for a moment about leaving Valtteri alone for a while, but decides against it. When he opens the door, he doesn’t find Valtteri immediately. The only sign that he’s there is the steady drip of negative thoughts coming from the window. Rob sighs, comes inside and closes the door behind him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Why does everyone always think there’s something wrong?” Valtteri mumbles into his hand.

It takes a couple of moments for Rob to notice Valtteri even once he’s seen where his thoughts are. He’s stood by the window, leaning against the window sill with a hand supporting his chin, watching the rain outside.

“There’s nothing wrong?” Rob asks, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Valtteri nods, but his thoughts have shot up again and Rob wouldn’t have believed him anyway.

“Well, would you mind coming downstairs and saying that?” Rob asks. “Because I can think of at least two people who don’t believe you.”

“Claire never believes me,” Valtteri says, still not turning away from the window. “Is always convinced there is something wrong now, but is a little late for that.”

He gulps, his eyes flicking to Rob’s reflection in the window for a moment. He didn’t mean for it to come out like that. He knows Claire cares and he knows she couldn’t have done anything about Pastor at the time because she couldn’t have known about it. But it still bugs him a little. No, it _hadn’t_ bugged him. It hadn’t bugged him until Sunday.

“She tries her best, Valtteri,” Rob says, calmly. “She hates herself for not seeing what happened.”

“Know this,” Valtteri says, his eyes back on the world outside. “Does not mean she has to be over protective now. Always asking what is wrong unless I have a smile on my face.”

Rob sighs. “I don’t think she really knows what to do, Valtteri. She’s trying, though. You should be telling her this, not me.”

Valtteri nods, hoping that’ll be it, end of conversation.

“That doesn’t make me feel that there’s not something wrong, though,” Rob says.

Apparently not.

“Wouldn’t believe me if I said there was nothing wrong anyway, then,” Valtteri says.

“If there was nothing wrong, I’d believe you,” Rob says. “But that’s obviously not the case.”

“Why is that obvious?”

“You’re not yourself, Valtteri,” Rob says, with a sigh. He just wishes Valtteri would come and talk to him again. “Felipe says you’ve been acting funny all week.”

Rob has to say he agrees with him. Valtteri had been on a high since the assessment and Rob had thought they would never have been able to get him down from it, but here he is now, in the complete opposite state.

Valtteri snorts. “Of course you notice when _he_ tells you.”

“Hey,” Rob says, automatically defensive. “What’s wrong? What’s happened between you two?”

“Nothing,” Valtteri says. He’s still looking out of the window, determined not to look at Rob and give him any space. “Just…”

“Just what?” Rob asks when Valtteri doesn’t finish.

“Just think maybe I don’t belong here,” Valtteri says. “Claire does not understand me, and am maybe just making things up with Felipe like I was making things up with Pastor, and I am just making things worse for him. Maybe _I_ am the one who doesn’t belong here. Am nothing like you lot.”

Rob stares at him for a couple of moments, watching the thoughts bubbling over. Valtteri’s screaming at him and he doesn’t know what to do.

“You can’t… you don’t… you don’t really believe that, do you?”

Valtteri shrugs. “Why not?”

“Because,” Rob says, standing. “Because it isn’t true.”

“Really?” Valtteri scoffs. “Seems like it to me. Felipe is jealous just like Pastor was. Is me. I make them that way. And my powers… they don’t exactly _fit_ all the other Williams’ powers, do they?”

“Family has nothing to do with what powers you have,” Rob says, standing beside Valtteri and leaning on the window sill so they were at the same level. Valtteri purposefully ignores him, keeping his eyes on the street below and wishing Rob would just leave him alone. “What’s got you thinking like this, anyway?”

“Cannot come up with a thought by myself?” Valtteri mutters.

“I never said that,” Rob said. “But these things don’t come out of the blue, do they? Is it something Felipe’s said? Something _I’ve_ said.”

Rob tries to think back to the last thing he had said to Valtteri before he noticed how funny he was acting, but he can’t really remember.

Valtteri shakes his head. “Is nothing. Has been building for a while.”

“If you tell me, I can fix it,” Rob says. “But you’re not, so all I can do is tell you that you do belong here, Valtteri. Ok? You belong with us.”

“Maybe,” Valtteri says, quietly, hoping that’s the end of the conversation.

Rob knows he doesn’t believe it. He doesn’t know why but he can never convince anyone of anything, even when he’s telling the truth. He doesn’t know what else he can say, either, because nothing he ever says works.

He pushes himself away from window and steps back. “I’m going to go and help Claire with the shopping,” he says. “But I’ll be right here if you want to talk to me, and I think Claire feels the same. And Felipe. He’s really worried about you, mate. We all are.”

 

It’s a couple of hours later before the door opens again. Valtteri was called down for dinner about half an hour ago, but he hasn’t moved from his bed, and it’s a little late for someone to be coming up to drag him down for that.

He looks up as Susie pokes her head through the door. Valtteri rolls his eyes and lies back down. She doesn’t usually come in when the door’s closed. Someone has probably sent her up.

“Hey,” she says, her voice small. “Didn’t you want dinner?”

“Not hungry,” Valtteri says, staring at the ceiling.

“We had lasagne,” Susie says.

“Am still not hungry,” Valtteri says again.

Susie sighs and comes into the room, closing the door behind her. “What’s wrong?”

Not this again.

“Nothing. Is. Wrong.”

“Ok,” Susie says, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking down at Valtteri. “Can I talk to you then?”

Valtteri frowns and looks up at her suspiciously. If this is a way of getting him to talk…

“What about?” he asks.

Susie sighs. She needs to tell someone other than Toto. He’s great, but he’s not family. It was either Felipe or Valtteri, and she’s known Valtteri longer.

“What was it like when you got your powers?” she asks, slowly.

Valtteri pushes himself up and looks at Susie. She isn’t looking at him, swinging her feet and watching them bounce off of the bed.

“Why?” he asks.

Susie shrugs.

“Susie, do you have your non-phys?” Valtteri asks, unable to stop the concern in his voice.

Susie shrugs again. “Yeah.”

Valtteri shuffles over so he’s sat next to his sister, his own problems forgotten for a moment. “When?”

“A couple of weeks ago,” Susie says quietly.

“ _A couple of weeks!”_ Valtteri cries, making Susie shush him. They sit in silence for a couple of moments, listening to hear if anyone else has heard, but there’s no one coming up the stairs and Susie lets out a relieved breath.

“You can’t tell anyone,” she says. “I don’t want a tutor. Not yet. Toto’s been helping me. It’s been going quite well, actually.”

“You have to tell Claire,” Valtteri says. “Susie, this is serious. The assessments…”

“They can wait,” Susie says. “Valtteri, you can’t tell anyone about this. Please. Promise me.”

She clutches his hand, her fingers gently tapping his wrist without meaning to.

_Are you sure you are a Williams? Have had other brothers? Have imagined connections with them? It had felt right with Pastor to begin with… What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Some of us actually want to be able to control our powers. I shouldn’t have said that. What if we’re not? We’re not, are we? I’ve just imagined it. I don’t belong here._

Susie jerks away as soon as she realises what she’s done and stares at Valtteri. Valtteri’s staring back. Susie’s been getting stronger, still struggling to keep a control over her power, but she’s now able to force the memories she sees back into the subject’s mind.

“What did you just do?” Valtteri asks.

“I didn’t mean to,” Susie says. “We – Toto and I – don’t know how it works, not really. Sometimes I just see the memories and sometimes other people see them too. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

She’s still staring at her brother, his memories whizzing through her mind. They’re blurry, more thoughts than actual images.

“You don’t think you belong here?”

“Get out,” Valtteri demands, standing.

“But, why?” Susie asks, confused. “You’re family. _We’re_ a family. All of us.”

“Get out,” Valtteri says again, pulling Susie up from his bed.

“Is that what’s wrong?” Susie asks, stumbling to her feet and trying to stop Valtteri from pulling her out of the room. “But Valtteri?”

“Am not talking about it,” Valtteri says. “Will keep your secret if you get out right now.”

“Valtteri?” Susie tries again, barely able to recognise her brother as he forces her out.

“Now.”

“Fine,” Susie says, snatching her arm away from Valtteri. “You’re acting like you don’t even want help. You don’t even want to be a part of this.”

She storms out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her and running into her own room. Valtteri’s back lying on his own bed by the time Susie’s door slams shut and it feels like the entire house shakes. He needs to get out of here. He’s just ruining everything.


	29. Family Matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be the last chapter. For a while, at least. I'm nearly finished writing this and I'm going to stop posting chapters until it's finished. I don't know when that will be. A week, maybe? But I want to get it finished and edit it properly so it's a little better for you guys. What I do know is that it's definitely going to be finished. If for nothing else, it's my NaNoWriMo piece. Anyway, here's a chapter. Sorry it's not all that good. Hopefully things will get better when I come back.

“We can practice, if you want to,” Rob says over breakfast, watching Felipe drag his spoon through his porridge without actually eating anything.

“Won’t help,” Felipe mumbles. What Valtteri said the day before is still running through his head. Maybe he’s right. Maybe he doesn’t want it bad enough.

“You don’t know that,” Rob says.

Felipe sighs, pretty sick of having this conversation. He’s saved from replying by a knock on the door, which Rob goes to answer and Felipe goes back to mixing the gloopy porridge.

“Erm, hi,” Kimi says when Rob opens the door, stepping back a little. “Was wondering if Valtteri was in and wanted to go to the cinema or something.”

“Valtteri?” Rob asks, confused. He doesn’t know Kimi well. When he’d worked for the Ferrari family, he’d only ever worked with Felipe and, though he’d seen the Finn about sometimes, his thoughts were well hidden even to him. Even now, he couldn’t really make out what the Finn was thinking.

He calls up the stairs to Valtteri that there’s someone at the door for him. He doesn’t mention who. It’s the last thing Felipe needs.

“What you doing in England?” Rob asks, trying to pass it off as light conversation whilst they wait for Valtteri.

“The family has gone to see the Marussias,” Kimi says. “Are in trouble, or something. Is boring. Would rather go cinema.”

Rob nods, remembering hearing something at the assessment about the Marussia family problems, so the story passes. Valtteri comes down stairs with a frown set on his face, but it breaks into a grin when he sees Kimi, causing Rob to frown a little. He didn’t expect that.

“Moi,” Valtteri says, trying to keep the grin to a minimum.

“Was wondering if you wanted to go to the cinema,” Kimi asks.

Valtteri looks up at Rob. “Can I?”

“If you want to,” Rob says. He can’t say he expected Valtteri to want to…

“Now?” Valtteri asks Kimi.

“As good a time as any,” Kimi says.

“Will just go and grab my coat,” Valtteri says.

 

It’s in History again that the note slides towards her. She sighs as she opens it, trying to pretend she’s focusing on the video of whatever it is they’re supposed to be learning about this time.

_What’s wrong?_

She sighs and glances over at Toto, but he’s pretending to watch the video too. She had hoped he wouldn’t ask…

_Spoke to Valtteri last night._

_And?_

_It didn’t go well._

That’s an understatement, Susie thinks as she passes the scrap of paper back over to Toto.

Ever since they’ve been brother and sister, Susie’s been close to Valtteri. He’s looked after her, even through everything that happened with Pastor, and they’ve only ever gotten closer. She doesn’t understand why he would ever think they weren’t family. The only thing that would make sense is if he saw Pastor… She hasn’t mentioned that theory to Rob or Claire. She’s not sure they know how bad things are. But Valtteri isn’t her brother at the moment. He isn’t himself at the moment.

_What’s wrong with him?_

_I’ll tell you later._

Toto nods and goes back to watching the film, but two seconds later his open water bottle falls off of the table and they’re suddenly both drenched. Susie jumps out of the chair and all eyes in the room go to her.

“Sorry,” Toto says, louder than he usually would. “Water bottle slipped, miss,” he tells the teacher.

“Just sit down and watch the film,” the teacher says.

“I’m _soaked_ ,” Susie complains.

“Fine, go to the bathroom and dry off,” the teacher says, annoyed. “But stop disturbing my class.”

Susie opens her mouth to complain again but Toto grabs her arm and pulls them both out of the class. He closes the door quickly behind them and jogs to catch up with Susie.

“Ok, you can tell me now.”

 

“I don’t think I’ve seen so many miserable faces in one room,” Frank says, appearing in the arm chair whilst Felipe, Rob, and Claire sit on the floor, growing bored of playing Monopoly. “Where’s the other miserable one? There’s usually two of them?”

“Valtteri went to the cinema,” Rob says, tapping the hat game piece along the board and ending up in jail for the eighth time.

“And you didn’t want to go with him?” Franks asks Felipe.

“Was not invited,” Felipe mumbles. He can’t say he expected Valtteri to invite him anymore.

“Why not?” Frank asks.

“Dad,” Claire hisses.

Felipe shrugs. “Doesn’t think I’m his brother anymore.”

“Well, that’s just stupid,” Frank says.

Felipe nods, rolling the dice and tapping the tiny metal car around the game board.

They fall back into silence, the game having lost their interest a long time ago, and are only saved when there’s another knock on the door.

Rob sighs and stands, his knees aching from being sat on the floor for too long. “I’ll get it,” he mumbles, as if it isn’t obvious, and makes his way to the door.

On his door step, he finds a sobbing teenage boy.

“Fernando?”

Felipe sits up immediately, not even trying to hide his interest. He shifts slightly, trying to see into the hallway from where he’s sitting.

“Fernando, what’s wrong?” Rob asks, letting him into the house and out of the rain.

“They- they- they.”

“Calm down,” Rob says, leading Fernando into the house.

Felipe jumps up when they come into the living room, his hands automatically bunched into fists at his sides. Fernando looks at him through tears with raw red eyes, shaking.

“Am sorry,” he whispers, his voice hoarse. “I did not know where else to go.”

“Get out,” Felipe says, so quietly he barely hears it himself.

“What?” Fernando asks, confused.

“Get out,” Felipe says louder. “You do not… do not just get to come here.”

“Felipe, please,” Fernando says. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Felipe,” Rob tries.

“No,” Felipe snaps, pushing past them both on his way up the stairs. “Am not listening to him. He does not just get to come here, Rob. Is not fair.”

They all listen in silence as Felipe storms up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door shut. Rob closes his eyes and mentally groans.

“Fernando, what’s wrong?” Claire asks.

“They don’t want me anymore,” Fernando says.


	30. Making friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, this hasn't been a week, but I did some editing and maybe this is a little better than before.

“How are you?” Kimi asks as they walk into town.

It’s freezing, and a light rain has begun to spit, but it’s too light for Valtteri to pay attention to. He has his eyes on the floor, watching where he walks to keep out of the puddles that are beginning to grow, and doesn’t notice Kimi looking down at him with much more interest than he should have been.

Valtteri shrugs in answer to the question. “Have been thinking about what you said,” he admits.

“Really?” Kimi says. He doesn’t sound surprised. “And?”

“Think maybe you are right,” Valtteri says. “But I do not know. And if I am not a Williams, then what am I?”

“Maybe you are a Ferrari,” Kimi jokes. It sounds like a joke to Valtteri, anyway. Then he adds, seriously. “Maybe you are, actually.”

“What?” Valtteri asks, looking up.

Kimi shrugs as if it is nothing and quickens his pace a little so Valtteri is struggling to keep up without jogging.

“What do you mean?”

“Would not be surprised if you are family,” Kimi says, as if it’s nothing. “Is somewhere to start looking, suppose.”

“You really think it?” Valtteri asks, and he doesn’t know why he wants it to be true as badly as he does, but he does.

“Could go to see them now, if you like?” Kimi says. “Instead of the cinema. Are staying somewhere in town.”

“I don’t know,” Valtteri says, quietly. “Should probably speak to Claire and Rob first…”

“Are just going to see them,” Kimi says. “Does not have to be formal or anything, just to see how it feels. Is no point getting Claire and Rob upset over nothing.”

“You really think I could be a Ferrari?” Valtteri asks, cautiously.

Kimi shrugs. “Have seen them try odder fits,” he says.

There can’t really be any harm in going to see the family, can there? It isn’t as if he’s planning on moving in with them there and then. Besides, Fernando’s still there. It’s just to see what things are like…

“Ok,” Valtteri says, still struggling to keep up with the older boy. Kimi’s a few steps ahead, and Valtteri doesn’t see the grin on his face.

 

“Come on Felipe,” Rob says. He’s sat outside the teenager’s bedroom door, waiting for him to see sense. “He’s going through a hard time at the moment, and you’re the one he came to.”

“Do not care,” came the reply from the other side of the door. The voice is close and Rob can tell Felipe’s only sat on the other side.

“The Ferraris have told him he doesn’t belong there,” Rob says, quietly.

“Serves him right,” Felipe says. “Told them I didn’t fit there, didn’t he?”

“You didn’t fit there,” Rob points out. He told Fernando and Claire to wait downstairs, that he would be able to make Felipe see sense, but he knows they’re stood on the stairs watching now. He doesn’t look at them, trying to ignore them.

“Told me he didn’t _want_ to be my brother,” Felipe says. “Why should I want to help him now?”

“Because you’re the better person,” Rob says, his eyes closed. “Come on, Felipe.”

“No,” Felipe says, purposefully. “If he does not belong at Ferrari then he must find someone else.”

“Remember how you felt?” Rob asks, quietly. He knows Felipe does. He wouldn’t be like this if he didn’t remember. “Remember how much it hurt? But you had me, didn’t you? Who does Fernando have, hmmm? Who does he get to go to?”

There’s silence on the other side of the door, but Rob can’t tell if it’s working or not.

“Felipe, he needs you,” he says.

“Is not family,” comes the reply, so quiet Rob can barely hear it.

“That doesn’t matter,” Rob says. “Friends are just as important as family.”

“Are not friends,” Felipe says.

Rob glances over at Fernando, who’s trying to hide behind Claire. “I think Fernando wouldn’t mind giving that a try if you don’t.”

There’s a sigh and the sound of shuffling on the other side of the door. Rob jumps up and takes a step back from the door, just as it opens. It’s immediately clear Felipe has been crying too, but Rob knows better than to mention it.

“Alright,” Felipe says, quietly. “Will try.”

“Dad and I are going to go and see Marco,” Claire says as Fernando climbs to the top of the stairs. “See if we can find out what they think’s going on.”

“Ok,” Rob says. “Let me know what they say.”

“Will do,” Claire says, before hurrying back down the stairs and leaving the boys to it.

 

“He doesn’t think he’s a Williams?” Toto asks. He knows they’ve been out of lessons for too long now, but he doesn’t really care. The two of them are making their way across the school courtyard, Toto leading.

Susie shakes his head. “And he’s not. Not at the moment. But he’s not himself anymore, either. I don’t like it, Toto.”

“So someone has been messing with his head?” Toto asks.

“That’s what I think,” Susie admits, “You don’t think it would be Pastor again?”

Toto shakes his head. “He wasn’t like this when Pastor was around before, was he? No, I think it’s probably someone else.”

“Another power possessor?” Susie asks. She doesn’t even question the fact they’re heading towards the school reception, even though both of their bags are still in history. “Another power possessor with powers like Pastors?”

“Well, there are a few,” Toto admits. “Suitil, Räikkönen…”

“Räikkönen?” Susie asks. “Kimi?”

“Yeah,” Toto says, walking into the reception. He nods to the receptionist and, for reasons Susie has given up trying to guess, the receptionist lets them out of the school.

“Where are we going?” Susie asks, once they’re clear of the school gates and very obviously not going back to class.

“To sort this out,” Toto says. “Someone is trying to convince Valtteri he doesn’t belong with you. Is probably for a reason.”

“And this can’t wait until after school?” Susie asks. She’s not complaining about missing school. She’ll never complain about that. But she’s a little confused as to why Toto would want to miss school.

“Maybe not,” Toto says, going to take his bike from the bike shed. “I don’t know. But is better to get this sorted out sooner rather than later.”


	31. Apologies

They’re both sat in the living room again, both holding a mug of tea but neither of them are drinking it. Rob’s waiting in the kitchen, out of eye sight but both of them know he can hear them. Or he would be able to, if they were saying anything.

The game of Monopoly still lies abandoned on the floor. They’d given up playing board games when they were brothers. It was just another thing Fernando always had to win. When Felipe thinks back now, they hadn’t done a lot as brothers, especially towards the end.

He misses Valtteri. He’s never thought he would ever think that, but he does. He’s only been gone, physically at least, a couple of hours, but the Valtteri Felipe misses has been gone almost a week now. And Felipe misses him.

“Am sorry,” Fernando says quietly.

Felipe blinks at him, shocked out of his thoughts. Fernando isn’t looking at him, doesn’t see him mouth the word a few times to make sure it still means what he thinks it means.

“Sorry?” Felipe asks.

“Should never have acted like I did when they said you were leaving,” Fernando says. “Was just angry. And upset. Could never have gotten them to make you stay. Even asked Andrea what I could do, but he said there was nothing. Said Ferrari have already made up their minds. Was angry at them for making you leave, not at you for leaving.”

“But you hurt _me_ not _them_ ,” Felipe says. A couple of weeks ago, he would have brushed the apology away without even thinking about it and believed anything Fernando said. Now… he wants to believe it’s true. He wants to _want_ it to be true. But he just doesn’t care.

“Am sorry,” Fernando says again, and it’s just as shocking the second time. “I was an idiot.”

They fall into silence again. Felipe’s not sure how Fernando expects him to react: probably to just accept the apology, grin, and carry on like nothing has happened. It’s what he would have done before.

“Why did you come here?” Felipe asks.

“Is nowhere else I could go,” Fernando says, shaking a little. “Thought… thought Ferrari were my family. Have never even thought about being part of anything else.”

“Is not so nice, how that feels, is it?” Felipe says, and he can’t help but be bitter. He’s trying. He really is trying to be understanding, but he can’t.

Fernando shakes his head. “Should have tried harder, I know. But you’re happy here, no? Was for the best in the end.”

“And might be the best for you,” Felipe says.

“Don’t have anywhere to go,” Fernando whispers.

“Your old family?” Felipe tries.

Fernando laughs, shaking his head. “Are never going to take me back. Did not exactly leave them on good terms, remember?”

Felipe remembers, but he doesn’t know what else to say.

“Is definite Ferrari are kicking you out?” he asks. “Have not just had an argument?”

“They’ve found someone else,” Fernando stresses. “You know them. They do not like to have too many kids running around. Have found someone they think fits better and are making me leave to make space for him.”

“They found someone else?” Felipe asks, a little surprised. “Who?”

Fernando looks up at him, his mouth open a little in surprise. Felipe frowns, confused.

“You don’t know?”

“Know what?” Felipe asks, starting to get a little worried.

“Is Valtteri.”

 

“I really am sorry if he’s being a pain,” Marco says. “We were a worried when he ran off, but thought it better to let him calm down and cool off before we went to see him. Will send someone to come and pick him up, if he’s causing trouble.”

“No, he isn’t causing trouble,” Claire insists. “But he’s really upset.”

“Was not supposed to find out the way he did,” Marco admits. “We could have handled it better, maybe, but did not know he was listening.”

“Alright,” Claire says. “Would you like us to send him back to you?”

“If you could,” Marco says. “Is probably best to not have teenage boys running about all over the place.”

“Alright,” Claire says, standing. “We should get going back then. Sorry again for bothering you.”

“Is no trouble,” Marco insists. “Send my best wishes to Rob.”

Claire frowns at the comment, but she’s already taken hold of her father’s hand and they vanish before she can question it.

Marco sighs, annoyed. No doubt they will be back when the Spaniard decides to tell them who’s replacing him. He should have known not to do this so close to them, but easy access to Valtteri called for it. He’s just glad he could get them to go before Kimi returned with their treasure.

It’s less than a minute between the Williams pair leaving and Kimi opening the front door, showing Valtteri in.

“Thought you were only on holiday,” Valtteri says, confused at the house he’s lead into.

“Are,” Kimi says. “But have a holiday home.”

“In England,” Valtteri asks. “Seems like a waste of money.”

“Is what I said, but they don’t listen to me.”

“Valtteri,” Marco says, beaming, as he comes into the front hall. “Is good to have you hear at last.”

Valtteri frowns, looking between Kimi and Marco. “Were… expecting me?”

“Of course we were expecting you,” Marco says. “You’re a Ferrari now.”  


Rob’s still in the kitchen when Claire and Frank return, trying to get a hold of Valtteri on his phone, but he isn’t answering. Why teenagers can’t just answer their phones, he doesn’t know.

“Right,” Frank says, sitting opposite Fernando. “It looks like you haven’t got the wrong end of the stick, I’m afraid. But don’t worry. I’m going to go around and see my friends and see if any of them will take you in for a while, ok?”

“What’s the matter?” Claire asks Rob when she finds him in the kitchen.

“They know who they want as the new Ferrari,” Rob says. “Claire, they want Valtteri. And he won’t answer his phone.”

“Valtteri?” Claire asks. “I thought you said they couldn’t. Because of the contract.”

“They only give a fuck about the contract when it suits them,” Rob snaps. “He won’t answer the phone and I’ve let him go off with Kimi Räikkönen and I’m such an idiot.”

“I thought you said he went to the cinema?”

“With Kimi,” Rob says. “Except he probably hasn’t gone to the cinema, has he? All some trick to get him to Ferrari.”

“Dad!” Claire calls, running back into the living room, but Frank’s already disappeared to find somewhere for Fernando to stay.

Felipe and Fernando look up at her. Claire looks between them, then darts back into the kitchen without an explanation.

“Are weird here,” Fernando mumbles.

“We have to go and get Valtteri,” Rob says.

“It’ll be ok,” Claire says, trying to calm herself down. “We’ll wait for Dad to come back and then I’ll go to the Ferraris and try to sort this out. They can’t just take him from us. He’s my son.”

“You don’t understand,” Rob says. “We need to go now, before they…” He stops himself before he can say anymore.

“Before what?” Claire asks.

“I can’t…” But he can. The contract’s been broken and he can say whatever he likes. “Claire, you’re probably going to need to sit down.”


	32. The experiments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is just a really big let down, but here it is.

“And this… _thing_ you’re doing to him,” Rob asks, looking up from the contract again. “It’ll help him, won’t it?”

They’ve already mentioned the long list of side effects, skimming over some of the minor ones and not even mentioning the others. Rob isn’t sure. Felipe doesn’t need help. He’s doing perfectly well on his own, but this is what the family wants and he’s just an employee.

“That’s what it’s supposed to do,” Rob’s told.

“And if I don’t sign?” Rob asks, but he already knows the answer to that.

“We would really rather you did sign, Mr Smedley. If not, it would be likely that we would have to reconsider your position as a tutor.”

“You’d fire me?” Rob asks. “You’d fire me for trying to look after him.”

“You said yourself, this is going to help him,” Rob’s told. “It’s in his best interest that you sign, as well as your own.”

Rob sighs and looks over the contract again. It’s mostly confidentiality. He’s not to tell anyone about anything that the family is trying to do, and he can’t really imagine he’ll ever need to tell anyone. It can’t really be that bad, can it?

 

“Ferrari isn’t a family,” Rob starts, slowly. The door to the living room is shut, but he’s still watching it, waiting for the boys to come crashing through like they usually do. “Not like us, or any of the others. They don’t form connections, or bonds. They’re cobbled together by scientists.”

“Scientists?” Claire says. She’s not entirely sure if she believes him, or if he’s just saying this to try to stop her asking questions.

Rob nods and sighs. He doesn’t know how many times he’s planned this speech in his head, wanting to get it all perfect in case he ever does get the opportunity to tell someone what happened, but the words he’d come up with don’t seem right now. This is going to be harder to explain than he’d thought.

“They’re trying to create the perfect power possessor,” he says explains. “So when Ferrari adopt a child, they’re not doing it in the hope that there’s a connection. There’s never a connection. They’re doing it because they think the child can… further their research.”

Claire opens her mouth to ask a question, then shuts it again, then changes her mind and takes a deep breath. “What research?”

“Experiments,” Rob says, quietly. “Trying to understand what goes on in a power possessor’s brain and how they can ‘enhance’ it.”

He gulps at the memories of the experiments. The ones he should have been able to stop, but couldn’t. The ones that have ruined Felipe’s life and are probably going to ruin Valtteri’s too, if he doesn’t stop them this time.

“But they can’t,” Claire says. “They can’t just take him.”

“You saw him this week, didn’t you?” Rob says. “He’s been saying he doesn’t belong here and three guesses who put that in his head. They made him _want_ to go to them. That’s what Kimi does.”

“But they can’t,” Claire says again. “We have to go and get him. We’ll go back to where they’re staying. It’s not that far away.”

Rob shakes his head. “They’ve got a lab, back in Italy. They’ll have taken him there as soon as possible.”

“Then we can still catch them?”

“They’ll have teleported, Claire,” Rob says. “They have about a dozen older power possessors working for them. One of them is bound to teleport and have taken them safely away where we can’t get to him.”

“We’ll go and find Dad and then we’ll go to the lab,” Claire says, definitely. “We cannot leave him, Rob. They have already scarred one of my kids. I am not about to let them do it to another.”

 

“It’s a good mind,” Marco informs his boss, his hands on Valtteri’s temples so he can look into the teenager’s brain. “A little dark around the edges. That’ll be Maldonado. I don’t think it’s stained, but it’ll take a bit of work to come off.”

“Are you sure that isn’t just Räikkönen?” the boss asks.

Marco almost sighs impatiently. If it were anyone else, he would have. Of course he can tell the difference. “Am sure,” he says. “They are different traces.”

“Alright then,” the boss says.

Valtteri’s somewhere between sleeping and awake, his mind not quite attached to his body, but not in it’s own world either. Marco hasn’t come up with a name for the state the power possessors go into during experiments. He’s still figuring that out.

“Other than that, is a very good specimen,” Marco says. “Are you sure you want to do this with him? Would not want him to get ruined, like the other one.”

They’ve come some way since that disaster, but it still haunts Marco a little, and he’s not sure if he wants to try again just yet.

“It doesn’t seem like we have much choice,” the boss says. “If Alonso had never found out, of course…”

“Sorry,” Marco says for the twentieth time. He’d been sure the teenagers were both out, but obviously that hadn’t been the case. If Alonso had never found out, they would have him to practice on still. Nobody would need to know Valtteri was with them, even if Smedley would have suspected something. But that isn’t the way things have gone, and they’ve yet to find a power possessor that can change the past.

“That doesn’t matter now,” the boss says. “Get him prepped for experiment. The sooner we start, the more we get done before we have the Williams lot knocking on the door again.”

“You don’t think… you don’t think they’ll _do_ anything, do you?” Marco asks, uncertainly.

“Like what?” the boss asks, grinning. “No, they won’t do anything. They’ve not got the guts. I’ll be in Lab M when you’re ready.”

 

“We’re just going out to find Valtteri,” Claire informs the boys as she pulls her coat on. “Stay here, alright. I mean it. No matter what happens, you must stay here.”

“Okay…” Felipe says slowly, confused.

“Seriously, Felipe,” Rob warns, and it only confuses Felipe more. “Stay here. Don’t answer the door for anyone. When Susie gets back, you make sure she stays here as well.”

“What’s going on?” Felipe asks.

“Nothing,” Rob lies. “We’re just going to get Valtteri.”

“Thought he was at the cinema,” Felipe says.

“Yeah,” Claire says. “But we want him here.”

“And both need to go?” Felipe asks.

“Yeah,” Claire says. “We won’t be long, ok? And if Dad comes back before we do, tell him we’re looking for him too, alright?”

“Are sure is nothing going on?” Felipe asks.

“Yeah,” Claire lies. “We’ll be back soon, don’t worry.”

When the adults leave, Felipe and Fernando sit in silence. They’ve barely said anything more to each other, neither sure how to keep the conversation going. They’re saved from the awkward silence by Susie and Toto bursting into the house less than a minute after Rob and Claire have left.

“Felipe!” Susie cries, ignoring Fernando. “What’s wrong?”

Felipe jumps up when she comes towards him. Without even thinking, Susie grabs his wrist.


	33. Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this morning I finally finished this! Which means there's an ending (not a very good one, I'm afraid, because I can't do endings, but an ending), which means this story is definitely getting finished.  
> Anyway, hope you're still enjoying this. Feedback is always welcome.  
> :)

At first, it’s just the pain again. The same pain from his dreams. But then that fades into the background, and he has conscious thoughts and he can tell what’s going on around him.

Rob’s sat on one side, clutching his hand. Or he’s clutching Rob’s hand. He’s not entirely sure which it is. Maybe it’s both.

The hands that had been on his temples are still there, but they probe deeper, into his brain and that – _that –_ is where the pain is coming from.

“Please,” he manages to mumble, and this time he knows it’s him squeezing Rob’s hand. “Rob, make them stop.”

“It’s ok,” Rob says. He sounds calm but Felipe can hear his voice shaking too.

“It hurts,” Felipe says.

“You’re hurting him,” Rob says to the person working inside his brain. Felipe doesn’t look up to try to see who it is. The thought of it makes him cry out in pain again.

“He’s just imagining it,” the other person says. Before, in his dreams, Felipe’s never been able to name the voice, but this time he can. This time he knows it’s Marco.

“Please.” The moan becomes a scream again, and he doesn’t understand how anyone could think he was imagining something like _this_.

“This is for the best, Felipe,” Rob says, and it should have been comforting but the fact that Rob doesn’t sound like he believes it himself makes it useless.

“It _hurts_ ,”

“You’re just imagining it,” Rob says, and Felipe is pretty sure he can hear him crying. “This will make you better, ok?”

“Am not imagining it,” he mumbles, crying himself. “Please Rob.”

He manages to open his eyes again, and they fall past Rob to the man in the background, watching and making notes. He’s the one that can stop this. He’s the one that will, eventually, call for Marco to stop. And they’ll both go and leave Rob to try to piece him back together. That’s what always happens. But, for now, he just sits in silence and makes notes.

 

It’s later. Much later. Felipe’s in bed and he thought he had been asleep but it looks like he was just too deep in thought to be considered awake. Something had jolted him from his thoughts, though, and now he’s holding his breath and listening, trying to figure out what.

“They need to stop,”

Rob.

He shouldn’t be here. The only time Rob’s here is during tutoring and… and whatever it is they do in the labs. It’s too late for either of those things.

“They cannot stop,” Marco says. “It is for the best.”

“The best for who?”

It takes Felipe a couple of moments to realise they’re right outside his bedroom door.

“Because it isn’t the best for him,” Rob continues. “And if you’re not going to stop torturing him, I’m going and I’m taking him with me.”

“And go where?” Marco laughs. “He belongs here.”

“Nobody belongs here and you know it,” Rob snaps. “I don’t know where and I don’t care, because anywhere is better than here.”

“Why do you care so much, anyway Rob?” Marco asks. “Is not as if the child is anything to do with you. You are just a tutor. Are hired help. Whatever ‘connection’ you think you have with the boy is entirely made up. And you know this, don’t you, Rob?”

Felipe freezes under the blankets. For a long time, nobody says anything, and he thinks they might have gone.

Then there’s another laugh from Marco. “Is pathetic, Rob.”

“I care about him,” Rob says. “But you wouldn’t know about that. You’ve probably never cared for another human being your entire life.”

“Is that what you call it?” Marco asks. “Do you think he will be grateful for that when he finds out you’re drugging him? When he finds out it is your fault he cannot control his powers?”

“It’s your experiments doing that,” Rob snaps.

There knob on the bedroom door begins to turn and Felipe squeezes his eyes shut, pretending to be asleep.

“Wait,” Rob says, and the door shuts again. “Don’t.”

“Thought you wanted to tell him,” Marco said. “Thought you wanted to tell him how evil we all are and how you are going to rescue him.”

“He can’t find out,” Rob says. “It’ll kill him and you know it. Please. If you have any decency, you won’t tell him.”

 

Felipe’s staring at Susie with the same look Valtteri did, and Susie can’t help but feel ashamed.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t think. I just…” She stops, replaying what she’s seen in her mind. “What happened?”

Felipe shakes his head. He doesn’t remember. Except, now, he does. He does remember. He remembers all the experiments and the failed assessments and he remembers the reason why…

“What did you do?” Felipe asks, confused.

Susie’s crying and Toto has his arm around her, trying to comfort her.

“Where’s Valtteri?” he asks.

“You made me remember,” Felipe says. “How did you make me remember?”

“Where is Valtteri?” Toto asks again.

“He went with Kimi somewhere,” Fernando says. “They think he belongs at Ferrari.”

At almost the exact same time, Felipe and Susie realise what’s going on. Susie stops shaking and looks between Fernando and Felipe, her mouth open a little, but she’s waiting for someone else to say it first. She doesn’t want to be the one to admit it.

“They are going to do it to him,” Felipe says. “Everything that happened to me… they are going to do it to him.”


	34. Going to help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again that this is a little short.

“We need to go and help him,” Susie says.

“Go?” Felipe asks. “Go back to Ferrari?”

To the labs. To the labs he remembers so painfully clearly now. He can’t go back there. Valtteri needs his help and he _wants_ to. He wants to go back there and he wants them to know that they can’t just get away with this. But he _can’t_.

“We’ll find Rob and Claire,” Toto says, and Felipe’s a little relieved. Maybe Susie will listen to him.

But no. She shakes herself out of his hug and stares at them.

“No, we are not going to leave him there,” Susie says. “What are Claire and Rob going to do? They couldn’t stop it happening to Felipe, could they?”

She waves a hand in his direction and Toto turns to him, confused.

“Stop what?”

Felipe shuffles uncomfortably and finds himself looking down at Fernando for help. Fernando can’t give any, though. He’s got the same confused look on his face.

“I don’t… I don’t really remember,” Felipe says. “Not properly. But… are going to hurt him. Maybe make him lose control of his powers too.”

“We have to help him,” Susie cries. She goes to pull on Felipe’s hand, but he flinches away, scared of what else he might remember.

“Want to help, Susie, but I can’t,” Felipe says. “Toto is right. Should stay here. Rob will know what to do.”

“But he _doesn’t_ ,” Susie says.

“And you do?” Felipe asks. “Are just going to barge in there and demand they let Valtteri go? Is not going to work. Do not even know where they are.”

“I do,” Fernando says, quietly. “Could not take you there. Is back in Italy. But a teleporter could get us there. Could show them where it is.”

“You know?” Susie says, before turning immediately to Toto.

“No,” he says, before she can even ask.

“No what?” Felipe asks.

“ _Please_ ,” Susie starts again, but this time, Toto isn’t going to give in.

“No,” he says, firmly. “Am not asking him.”

“Then I will,” Susie says, spinning around as if to leave the house, but Toto grabs her arm to stop her before she can. “Come on, Toto,” she says. “He’s my brother. I have to help him.”

“I know,” Toto says. “But like Felipe said, you have no plan. You can’t just show up and hope for the best, Susie. It’s dangerous.”

“I don’t _care_ ,” Susie says. There’s no convincing her, Toto realises. There’s never any convincing her when she’s in this state. All he can do is go along with it and hope he can stop her getting hurt.

“Fine,” he says. “But you’re not going alone.”

“I won’t be alone,” Susie says. “Felipe and Fernando will come too.”

They both turn to the boys. Felipe and Fernando both look shocked at the announcement.

“You _want_ me to come with you?” Fernando asks.

“You can help, can’t you?” Susie says. “You wouldn’t have come here if you didn’t want to help.”

“Came here because I did not know where else to go,” Fernando says. “But will help. If I can help, will help.”

“Felipe?” Susie asks.

“What can I do?” he asks. “Cannot be any help, can I?”

“But do you _want_ to help?” Susie asks.

“Of course I want to help,” Felipe says, as if it’s crazy to say otherwise.

“Then you’ll help,” Susie says. “Come on, let’s go.”

“We need a teleporter,” Fernando reminds them.

“Yes,” Susie says. “Toto has one.”

Felipe groans, quietly. He has a feeling he knows where this is heading.

 

Susie’s always thought the Mercedes family is a little strange. There aren’t parents like Rob and Claire, but there’s Niki. Niki who always seems to be asleep whenever Susie comes to visit. Toto says he always seems to sleep full stop. And Toto is supposed to be the other ‘parent figure’, except it doesn’t quite work that way, as Lewis and Nico are only a couple of months younger than him.

But he can usually get them to do what he wants them to do.

“Why?” Lewis asks.

Felipe sighs and shuts his eyes. Anyone… _anyone_ but him…

“Because this is important,” Susie says before Toto can say anything. “You’d do the same if it were Nico.”

“Well, that’s debatable,” Nico says darkly as he passes through the living room on his way up stairs.

“Yes, but why should _I_ help _you_?” Lewis asks.

Fernando and Felipe glance at one another, both of them having heard this argument at least a couple of times before.

“Because I am asking you to,” Toto snaps. “Just once, Lewis, you do not have to act like a child.”

“Nico would do it,” Fernando mutters.

“Nico _can’t_ do it,” Lewis laughs.

And he can’t. Lewis is the teleporter. Lewis is the one they need.

“I’ll do it, man, calm down,” Lewis says, still laughing. They’ve told him what’s going on, but he doesn’t seem to believe it’s that serious. Or he doesn’t care. Felipe can’t decide which seems more believable. “But I can only take three people. So…”

“Susie stays here,” Toto says.

“What?” Susie jumps up. “No, I’m not staying here.”

“Someone has to,” Toto says. “It’s too dangerous and I am not letting you get hurt. No way. You are staying here, Susie, and that is final.”

“You haven’t seen what they’ve done,” Susie snaps. “You don’t know what they’re going to do. I do. And I am not going to let that happen, ok?”

“Susie,” Toto tries.

“No,” Susie snaps. “Lewis, I’m coming. So are Fernando and Felipe.”

“No,” Toto says. “No, if Susie’s going, I’m going too.”

“ _Lewis_ ,” Susie says, sternly, and Lewis gulps.

“Sorry, man,” he says to Toto. “Got to listen to the lady.”

Before Toto can say anything, they’re gone.


	35. Sounds in Prep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for short chapters.  
> Also sorry for the quality of short chapters.  
> Also sorry for the storyline.  
> Also sorry for the Italian. I had to use Bing Translate. It just seemed really inappropriate if they were all talking English in Italy when the guy didn't know they were English.  
> Anyway, enjoy. Comments always welcome. :)

It’s freezing.

That’s the one thought that’s clear in Valtteri’s mind. He’s used to the cold, but this is different. He can hear somewhere an extractor fan, stopping the room from plunging into silence. And there are footsteps, someone walking out of sight. He’s not sure, but he expects it’s Marco. He was here, and now he isn’t.

Why is the fan so loud?

He tries to remember when they drugged him, or whatever it is they did. He’s fairly sure he’s not supposed to feel this dizzy. But there’s nothing. All his memories are hazy and too bright to think about properly.

A door closes somewhere and it sounds a million miles away, but it could be right next to his ear for all he knows. There are a second pair of footsteps, but when Valtteri tries to trace the sound around the room he finds the sound jumps about and he has no idea where the second person is. Or the first person, for that matter.

“Is he ready?”

“Yes sir.”

Valtteri can’t tell where the voices are coming from anymore and he gets the feeling his mind is not entirely in the same place but that doesn’t make much sense. He can’t name them, either. He knows the names, and he knows he knows the names, but they don’t come to his mind. Nothing comes long enough to be focused on.

“There’s been a change of plan.”

“What?”

“Nothing serious. I just want to do this later.”

“If I pull him in and out of prep too quickly, it will cause damage.”

“Then don’t pull him out of prep. It shouldn’t take too long, don’t worry. There are just a couple of things I need to go over and I would rather do that before this.”

“Alright. What do you want me to do now, then?”

“Whatever you want, Marco. I’m not your keeper.”

“Yes sir.”

There’s a pause again and the door closes.

Somewhere, Valtteri can’t tell where, there’s a sigh and a clattering of bottles.

“Yes sir, can keep him in prep? Why not? Can all flutter around your made up schedule as much as you wish. Because why not?”

There’s another sigh and Valtteri feels a hand on his wrist. It’s gentle, pressing his hand down onto the bed or bench or whatever it is he knows he’s lying on, even though he can’t feel it. Then there’s a strap across his wrist.

“Looks like will have to leave you for a while,” the voice says as the gentle hand comes against Valtteri’s other wrist. “Cannot say I expect you to do anything whilst you are like this, but will only get moaned at if I do not.”

The second strap comes across his wrist. Valtteri wants to try to test how strong they are, but he can’t find the place in his brain that tells his arms to move, and they stay still.

“Should not be long,” the voice says, and the name escapes Valtteri’s grasp again. “Though this is Bernie. So nobody is able to predict what will happen.”

There are footsteps again, walking in a nonsense, jumpy pattern across the room, then the door shuts and there is silence.

Except the fan.

 

They arrive outside a building somewhere Felipe doesn’t recognise. It’s immediately obvious they’re not in England anymore. The fact that the grass beneath their feet isn’t wet is the biggest clue, and it’s far too warm for the island nation.

Surprisingly, or maybe not considering the past month or so, Felipe doesn’t feel as at home here as he thought he would.

“Could have warned us before you were going to do that,” Fernando snaps at Lewis.

The Brit is grinning, clearly proud of himself.

“We’re here, aren’t we,” he says.

They are here. Wherever here is. The building is sat in the middle of the countryside, grey and boring, with no windows except on the very top floor. The only distinguishing feature along the entire ground level is the grey metal double doors they’ve appeared beside. Unsurprisingly, when Fernando tries them, they don’t move.

“And you couldn’t get us into the building?” he asks.

“Can’t get inside buildings I’ve never been inside before,” Lewis says.

Fernando rolls his eyes and turns to Felipe. “Any ideas?”

Felipe shakes his head. He’s being useless. He _knows_ he’s being useless…

“Hey?”

They all spin around at the voice. A guard has come around the corner, the confused look on his face quickly turning to an annoyed one.

“I bambini non dovrebbe essere qui.”

Susie frowns and turns to Felipe and Fernando, but they’re both staring at the guard, trying to come up with an explanation.

“Stavamo solo carcando…” Fernando begins, but he doesn’t sound very convincing and he has no idea how to end the sentence, so he falls silent.

The guard frowns.

Lewis doesn’t like the look of this.

“Well, I’m out. Good luck.”

Less than a second later, the Brit is gone. Only Susie is surprised by this, Fernando resisting the urge to mutter something Susie shouldn’t hear.

“Power possessors?” the guard asks, and his hand jumps to the gun on his hip.

This time Fernando does mutter the word, but nobody’s paying attention to him anyway.

“We were just… we’re not causing any trouble,” Susie tries, but she’s not even sure he speaks English.”

“Down,” the guard says. “On the floor.”

Felipe and Fernando both sit, obediently, but Susie has to argue.

“We’re not doing anything wrong,” she says.

“Is private property,” the guard says. “Are unknown power possessors. Get down or I shoot.”

“Susie,” Felipe hisses, trying to pull her down, but she isn’t listening.

“We can leave,” Susie says. “We’re just looking for my brother, and then we can go.”

She takes a step forward, something she really shouldn’t have done, and then there’s a gunshot.


	36. Time Dilation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We were learning about time dilation in physics the week after I wrote this. And I think I may be the only person whose head didn't explode. I mean, none of physics makes sense to me anyway, but time dilation isn't that hard for me to accept.  
> This in no way reflects anything I learned in physics and is not a good way of explaining time dilation, and it wasn't supposed to be. I just thought the timing was funny.

The last time Felipe slowed anything down was years ago, before the experiments. Which is why he’s surprised when, without even trying, everything around him seems to freeze.

It takes him a couple of seconds, in his own time, to realise what has happened. Everything has gone silent, sound waves moving too slowly for him to hear. Everyone else is frozen in their positions, time slowed too far for movement to be noticeable.

He’s done it.

He’s _actually_ done it.

Felipe laughs a little, not quite able to believe he’s done it. Something will go wrong soon, he’s pretty sure, but for now, he feels… He’s not sure. Good.

Fernando’s on his knees, about to jump up to try to save Susie, but it would have been too late. Felipe takes his wrist and pulls him into his own time.

Fernando blinks, the couple of seconds adjustment universal. Then his eyes grow wide as he realises what has happened and he turns to Felipe. The Brazilian grins, nodding.

“Always said you could do it,” Fernando says.

“Should not be able to do it,” Felipe says. “Do not know _why_ I can do it.”

“Does it matter?” Fernando asks, laughing a little.

Felipe shrugs. “Probably not.”

He stands and approaches the guard, no longer scared of the gun. The bullet sits, mid-air, waiting to continue its journey. Felipe plucks it from its spot and places it on the ground.

“Could just turn it around,” Fernando says, also going to the guard. “Would serve him right.”

Felipe shakes his head. It’s better the bullet ends up on the floor than in anybody.

“Look what I found,” Fernando says, laughing again. He lifts his hand, holding a set of keys, and Felipe’s face breaks into a grin.

“Well, was a lot easier than expected.”

“Are you going to pull Susie here?” Fernando asks. “Or are you going to take us back?”

“Am not entirely sure how to stop it,” Felipe says. “Has been so long, and could not even hold it this long back then.”

“Bring her here then,” Fernando says. “Will just carry on and things will go back to normal in their own time.”

It isn’t a very appropriate phrase, but Felipe doesn’t argue the technicalities and does as Fernando says.

Tears flood Susie’s eyes as soon as she’s brought to their time and she’s crying before she even realises what’s going on. By the time she realises she isn’t dead, Felipe’s hugging her. She can’t hug back, trying to figure out what has happened.

“Is ok,” Felipe whispers. “Are ok.”

“Come on,” Fernando says. “Before he gets up to speed.”

Felipe rolls his eyes and pulls away from Susie. “You are ok?”

Susie sniffs and nods, wiping her eyes.

“Why don’t we try no heroics now, hey?” Felipe says and Susie laughs a little, nodding again.

“We will get Valtteri,” Felipe says, leading Susie towards the door Fernando is trying to fit keys into. “Just need to be clever about this.”

“See,” Susie says, quietly. “I told you that you would help.”

 

In the end, Rob and Claire don’t find Frank. He finds them.

He’s found somewhere for Fernando. He can’t say he imagines it’s the first place the teenager would want to stay, but somewhere is better than no where, and he went back to the house to tell them, only to find it empty. So he went to find Claire and Rob.

“They’re gone?” Claire asks.

Frank nods. “I thought they would be with you.”

They’re not. That much is obvious.

“Well, where have they gone?” Rob asks, but he doesn’t know why he expects Frank to know that.

“It’s the end of the school day,” Claire says, hopefully. “Maybe Susie went straight to Toto’s and they realised so they went to bring her home.”

She doubts the theory very much, but it’s the only one she can come up with without Felipe and Fernando being missing.

“Maybe,” Rob says, but he has as much faith as Claire does.

“Well, there’s only one way we can find out,” Frank says.

They appear at the Mercedes front door, not wanting to be impolite, and Claire knocks quickly.

Nico answers the door.

“Hi,” Claire says. “Is Susie here?”

Nico sighs. “Toto! It’s for you.”

 

“Do you have any idea where we are actually going?” Felipe asks as Fernando leads them down _another_ corridor that looks exactly the same as the last one.

“Have an idea,” Fernando says. “Have only been here once. Do not remember it all that well.”

That doesn’t surprise Felipe. The memories, though clear, are old, and there are a lot of things different at the labs to what he remembers. He follows Fernando, hoping he has a better idea of where they were going than what he seems to. Felipe’s hand is on Susie’s wrist. He doesn’t know if it’s working or not. Not, more than likely, but there’s a chance, and Susie needs the comfort.

As they turn onto another corridor, the droan of an extractor fan fills the silence. Susie jumps at the sudden noise.

“Is ok,” Felipe assures her. “Have probably just gone back to their time. Is ok.”

“Their time?” Susie asks. She can’t help but notice Fernando’s pace has quickened, as has Felipe’s. “What does that mean?”

“Time is no longer slowed down for us,” Felipe says.

“So they can come and get us now?” Susie asks.

“Yes,” Felipe says. “But is ok. Maybe do not even know we are here yet.”

“Can you do it again?” Susie asks.

“Maybe,” Felipe lies.

“Guys!” Fernando calls from a little way down the corridor. He’s stood beside a door, on the tips of his toes to see through the window. “I’ve found him.”

 

“Toto, you need to tell me where they are,” Claire says, sternly.

“I can’t,” Toto says. “I do not know where they are.”

“This is serious,” Claire says. “They’re in trouble.”

“I told her not to go,” Toto says. “But she would not listen. I tried to get her to come to see you, but she would not listen. She never listens.”

“Go _where_?” Claire asks.

“I. Do. Not. Know,” Toto says. “They went to go and find Valtteri.”

Claire and Rob look at each other, trying to not look as worried as the other and failing.

“What do they know about what’s happened to Valtteri?” Rob asks.

Toto sighs. He’s going to have to tell them. Susie is going to kill him when she find out, but it’s for her own good.

“Susie has her non-phys,” he says quietly.

“She’s what?”

“Susie has her non-phys power,” Toto says. “She didn’t want you to know because she wanted to stay in school. But we’ve been working on it together. She doesn’t really have any control over it yet. She sees people’s memories. It’s hand to wrist based, and it isn’t every time, but it’s pretty frequent, and we’re trying to get it under control.”

“She sees memories?” Rob asks, slowly. He’s annoyed. He’s annoyed Susie doesn’t think she can speak to them and he’s annoyed she’s been keeping it a secret, but that isn’t important right now. “Which memories?”

“Depends on how she is feeling,” Toto says. “If she is upset, she sees memories from when they are upset. If she is happy, she sees memories of them happy. That is as much as I know on it.”

“So…” Claire says. “Susie’s seen something? And that’s why they’ve gone after Valtteri?”

Toto nods.

Rob closes his eyes. He knows. He knows without even being told what she’s seen.

“She saw what they did to Felipe,” Toto confirms. “Now they are scared they will do the same thing to Valtteri. Fernando said he knew where they were keeping him. I didn’t want Susie to go, but she does not listen.”

“Does Felipe remember?” Rob asks, quietly.

“Think so, yes,” Toto says.

Rob groans, his eyes still closed. He’s pretty sure he can imagine the glare Claire is giving him now, but he doesn’t care.

“How long have they been gone?” he asks.

“Fifteen minutes, maybe,” Toto says.

“They won’t have had time to get into too much trouble,” Rob tries to assure himself. “Let’s go before they do.”


	37. Rescue

Some where, Valtteri can’t tell where, the door opens and closes. Under normal circumstances, he would have tensed, but he can’t even manage to get his body to do that, so he just remains still.

The room is the same as Felipe remembers. He doesn’t follow Fernando inside, hovering just outside the room where things are still unfamiliar and he can pretend everything that happened didn’t. Fernando and Susie go to Valtteri, tugging on the straps around his wrists, but they wouldn’t loosen.

“Valtteri?” Susie asks. His eyes are open, but they don’t track her. “Valtteri, it’s ok. We’re here. We’re going to get you out.”

Valtteri doesn’t respond. Can’t respond. Susie chokes back a sob and Fernando looks up at the noise, surprised. He glances over to Felipe, because this was the kind of thing he dealt with, but the Brazilian was still stood in the corridor.

“Is ok,” Fernando says. “I can pull him out of this. Maybe. Just wait a second.”

He probably should have done this first, he thinks, as he leaves the strap he’s trying to undo and stands at the top of the table.

The hands on his head are warm this time, much warmer than the freezing cold room. They stay there a while, much longer than the last pair of hands, but the longer they stay there, the more awake Valtteri feels.

“Susie?”

“There’s someone coming,” Felipe hisses, darting into the room without any other choice.

Fernando jumps back, his hands coming away from Valtteri’s temples, and looks for somewhere to hide.

Felipe pulls Susie away from Valtteri’s side and into the only hiding spot he can find in the room, a small cupboard only just big enough to squeeze the three of them into. Once Fernando’s inside, the door barely closes, but it’s the only thing they’ve got.

“I really don’t see what the problem was,” Marco says as he comes back into the room. Valtteri’s where he left him, and nothing seems disturbed. He goes to the head of the table again and is about to dig back into Valtteri’s mind when his boss follows him in.

“Stop. Something’s not right.”

Marco rolls his eyes and steps away from Valtteri, not noticing how the teenager’s eyes follow him now.

“What is it this time?” he asks, the annoyance in his voice showing despite his better judgement.

“Someone’s been in here, haven’t they, Valtteri?”

Valtteri manages to shake his head, and it’s all the confirmation the boss needs. His eyes sweep over the room, resting on the cupboard and it’s so simple it’s funny.

“Come along, children, we don’t have time for games,” he calls, walking around the room. “We can play hide and seek later, if you want.”

Susie buries her face in Felipe’s chest, biting her hand to keep her crying quiet. He wraps a hand around her wrist, but he doesn’t know what good it’ll do when he can’t stop panicking himself. He watches through the tiniest crack in the door, as the man he watched make notes on the experiments comes towards their hiding spot. They’ve been found. He knows they’ve been found. And there’s nothing he can do about it.

“You wouldn’t want to make us angry, now, children, would you?”

“Can’t you do something?” Susie whispers, her voice shaking. “What you did before?”

Felipe shakes his head as best he can in the tight space. He can’t do anything. It wasn’t even down to him that he’d been able to do what he did before.

The cupboard is opened and the three teenagers tumble out, scrabbling to get up off of the floor. Marco’s mouth falls open and he looks between Valtteri and his boss.

“Bernie?” he says, stepping back and locking the door. “Do not know how…”

“It doesn’t matter, Marco,” Bernie says, looking down at the teenagers. Felipe still has a hold of Susie’s wrist, he notices. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I didn’t realise we were having a party. Fernando, you should have said you were having guests over.”

“You can’t do this,” Susie says, and maybe Felipe is doing something, or maybe she’s too scared to _not_ do anything, he can’t be sure. “He’s our brother and we’re not going to let you hurt him.”

“It does not hurt,” Marco says.

“It does,” Felipe says. “You do not know. How can you know? Even when I _tell_ you it hurts, you do not believe me.”

“Remember what you were saying, Marco?” Bernie asks. “About wanting someone to practice on? Looks like we have three volunteers. One is a little… _used_ but I’m sure that won’t be too much of a problem.”

The grin makes his face look like a Halloween mask. He takes a step towards them, his gleaming eyes flicking between the three of them whilst they tried to figure out what to do next.

He grabs Felipe’s shoulder first, but doesn’t pull him away. Their eyes meet and Bernie’s daring him. Daring him to try to do something. As much as the teenager wants to fight, as obvious as that is in his eyes, there’s nothing he can do.

“Leave him alone,” Susie warns. She isn’t shaking anymore and her voice is oddly calm.

Bernie does not notice this. He laughs.

“Would you like to go first?” he asks. “It must be annoying having to always come behind your brothers. Would you like to go first for a change?”

His hand doesn’t leave Felipe’s shoulder, but his eyes are now on Susie.

“Touch me and see what happens,” Susie says. There’s the same defiance in her eyes as there is in Felipe’s, and he wonders for a moment if it’s a Williams thing.

Bernie laughs again, but this time he lets go of Felipe’s shoulder, coming to Susie.

Before he can place a hand on her, he finds himself flying across the room. Bernie and Marco are both caught in the “energy surge”, as Toto has taken to calling it, and fall into a heap on the other side of the room. Every piece of glass in the room shatters, shards spilling over the worktops and floor.

The fan stops.

Then there is silence.

Felipe’s eyes are only a little wider than when he found out about Susie’s non-phys when he turns to her.

“You… you… _how_?”

“I don’t know,” Susie says.

“That was you at the assessment?” Fernando asks.

Susie nods. “I don’t know what happened. I just… and then… I just needed him to stop.”

“Come on,” Felipe says, pulling Susie behind him. “Will not last long.”

“Valtteri…” Susie begins, but Felipe shakes his head.

“I will get Valtteri,” he promises. “You go with Fernando and get out.”

“Am not leaving you here,” Fernando says.

“No,” Felipe says. “But need to have Susie safe.”

“I’m not an invalid,” Susie snaps, her arms crossed like a toddler. “We’d all be done for if it wasn’t for me. Don’t treat me like some damsel in distress that needs protecting, because I’m not.”

Felipe groans. He knows they’re wasting time arguing, but it’s natural to want to keep Susie safe, no matter how well she can clearly defend herself.

“Fine,” he snaps. “Help me then.”

After wasting a couple of precious seconds struggling with the straps before Fernando remembers the keys. One after the other, he tries them with little faith in finding the right one, because why would a security guard need keys for this?

“It’s going to be ok,” Susie promises.

“Am sorry,” Valtteri says. “Did not mean… I do not know why…”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Susie says. “Kimi’s like Pastor.”

“He only does this because they make him,” Fernando says, struggling with the keys. “Does not _like_ it.”

“It’s not the point,” Susie says. “We get it, Valtteri. It’s ok.”

“Am so stupid,” he whispers.

“No,” Susie warns. “You’re not. It doesn’t matter now, anyway.”

Fernando finds the right key, surprising himself, undoes the strap, and darts around to the other side of Valtteri to undo the other strap.

“Fernando?” Valtteri asks, confused, as Fernando and Felipe both lift him up.

“Yeah,” Fernando says. “Don’t worry. Am here to help.”

“Am sorry,” Valtteri says, leaning on Felipe when he tries to stand himself. “For what I said. At the assessments.”

“Does not matter,” Fernando says. “Come on. Vamos.”


	38. "Are you lost?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another short chapter. Sorry. But they're coming fast now, so hopefully that makes up for that a little bit.

“You’re sure this is it?” Claire asks, standing in the same place Susie, Felipe, and Fernando had stood in.

“This is where they did it before,” Rob says. The building alone makes him shiver. His own memories of this place have given him nightmares many nights and he can’t imagine how Felipe and Susie must be feeling now.

“But are you sure this is where they’re going it now?” Claire asks.

“What do you want me to say?” Rob snaps. “I’m as sure as I can be.”

“Calm down,” Frank says. “You pair arguing like kids hasn’t helped so far and it probably isn’t going to help now.”

Rob rolls his eyes, knowing Frank’s right and knowing he’s an idiot but he has no idea what to do now. Claire sighs and tries the door.

Rob’s about to make a sarcastic comment about the door being locked, because what kind of evil scientists would leave the door to their labs unlocked, when the door swings open. Claire smiles at the look of surprise and confusion on Rob’s face. It’s a small victory.

“Well,” Rob says, struggling to come up with an answer for the smirk. “I guess they weren’t expecting us.”

“Or it’s a trap,” Claire says. “Do you want to go first?”

Rob sighs and peers through the door. All he can see are empty corridors that remind him a little of a hospital. “Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

 

“You do remember the way out, don’t you?” Susie says, following behind Fernando as he leads them down another corridor that looks the exact same as the one they have just left.

“Of course I do,” Fernando lies. He doesn’t stop to try to figure out where he’s going. Right now, his plan is just to keep going and hope they’re not going around in circles.

“Slow down,” Susie complains. She’s struggling to keep up herself and if Fernando goes any faster they’re going to lose Felipe and Valtteri.

Felipe’s following with Valtteri’s arm around his shoulder and his arm around his brother’s waist. Their pace is good, until Valtteri stumbled and they both have to stop for a couple of moments to reorganise themselves.

“You two go on ahead,” Felipe says. “Will catch up.”

“No,” Susie says, stopping and pulling Fernando to a stop with her.

“Is no point in us all going slow,” Valtteri says, still struggling to stand even when he’s supported by Felipe. The effects should be wearing off by now, Fernando thinks, but they’re not. He seems to be getting worse.

“I am not just going to leave you,” Susie snaps.

“Are not leaving us,” Felipe says. “Find the way out and then come back so we do not have to be following Fernando.”

“Hey!”

“You are lost,” Felipe says. “Come on, Susie. Will be quicker that way.”

“Fine,” Susie says through gritted teeth. She turns back around and, pulling Fernando with her, heads off down the corridor.

“Am sorry.” Valtteri says, watching the others turn another corner so that they’re out of sight. “For what I said the other day. About you not wanting to control your powers. Should not have said that. Am sorry.”

“It is ok,” Felipe insists. “Was not even you talking, was it? Was whatever this thing Kimi puts in your head said. Come on.”

He shifts Valtteri a little so they can walk a little faster, but Valtteri only slips and almost falls, so they’re back to walking painfully slowly.                 Felipe glances behind them to see if anyone is following, but it looks like Fernando has gotten them lost enough for this to not be an issue.

“Should not have come for me,” Valtteri mutters.

“What else would I have done?” Felipe laughs. “Would have been not very good trying to find another brother when I knew where my real one was. Stop moaning. Are safe now.”

“Is that what you call it?”

 

“Do you know where you’re going?” Claire asks. Rob rolls his eyes.

“Yes,” he snaps, hurrying down another corridor he doesn’t recognise. He has no idea where they are at the moment, but has been keeping a track of where they’re going. Hopefully he’ll be able to lead them back out again.

The sound of footsteps on the hard, tiled floor bounces around the walls, and suddenly there are more footsteps than can be accounted for by just Claire and Rob. The come to a stop and the footsteps continue, getting louder.

Rob turns on his heel, quickly pulling Claire with him and looking for somewhere they can duck into to keep them out of sight. There doesn’t seem to be any, every door on the corridor locked, and the other set of footsteps were getting closer.

“Mum?”

Claire stopped, pulling her hand away from Rob’s, and spun around just in time to catch Susie running into her. Claire holds her tighter than she’s ever held her before, rubbing her back in soothing circles whilst Susie cries.

“It’s ok,” Claire whispers. “I’m here now. It’s going to be ok. Where are the others?”

Fernando comes around the corner just as Susie waves behind her, his face breaking into a grin.

“You guys are going to be in so much trouble when we get home,” Rob says, but he’s not sure he really means it. They’re safe. He’ll have to stop himself being so relieved before he can punish them. “Where’s Felipe?”

“With Valtteri,” Fernando says, pointing back the way they came. “Is not well. The effects should have worn off by now, but they have not.”

“The effects of what?” Claire asks, finally letting Susie go so she can stand properly. “What have they done to him?”

“Not sure what the word is,” Fernando says. “But I brought him out of it. Should be ok, but maybe I did it wrong. I don’t know.”

“Take the kids back to your dad and get them home,” Rob says, heading in the direction Fernando pointed in.

“Erm, no,” Claire says with a dry laugh. “They’re my sons too and I am not going to run off and let you deal with this on your own.”

“Sounds like you,” Fernando mutters to Susie. She nods, watching them argue.

“It’s ok,” Susie says. “We can get out on our own.”

 _We’ve done everything else on our own_ , she thinks, but doesn’t add.

Rob and Claire both stop to look at Susie.

“Fine,” Claire says. “Granddad is waiting outside for you, ok? If you get lost, you come back this way and find us.”

“We’ll be fine,” Susie promises. She goes to leave but Claire stops her, giving her one last hug before she goes, taking Fernando with her.

“Right,” Claire says. “The boys.”


	39. Not so safe after all

“That was a nice trick your sister pulled,” Bernie says, closing the gap between him and the boys. “She’ll be useful someday.”

“You are not having her,” Felipe says. He’s still trying to figure out where the old man has come from. He’d been sure nobody had been following them. “You are not having any of us.”

“And you’re the one that’s going to stop me?” Bernie laughs. “When you can’t even control your non-phys? What are you going to do?”

Felipe takes a step back, bringing Valtteri with him, but his back comes against something. When he looks up he finds Marco, a bruise beginning to bloom on his forehead from where he’d hit his head when Susie had used her power, but otherwise unharmed.

There’s no way out.

“Ferrari has been set up for generations,” Bernie says. “It’s going to take more than a couple of kids to ruin that. Did you ever wonder where Michael went, Felipe? Do you want to find out?”

Felipe turns to the older man at the use of Michael’s name, the confusion clear on his face only making Bernie’s smile grow.

“Michael left,” Felipe says. “Michael grew up and moved out.”

“Ah, is that what they told you,” Bernie says. “I always wondered why you never questioned it.”

“What did you do to him?”

“Don’t worry, little one. You’ll find out soon enough.”

 

“Admit it,” Claire snaps. “You don’t know where they are.”

“No,” Rob says. “No, I don’t know where they are. Would you like to do something constructive, or are you just going to stand there and criticise me.”

They aren’t supposed to be arguing. Both of them know it’s not going to help them in the slightest, but that doesn’t stop them. Claire falls to a stop, because Rob doesn’t know where he’s going and they’re just going to get lost. After briefly considering the consequences of continuing without her, Rob stops too.

“You’re an idiot,” Claire says.

“So are you,” Rob says, when he can’t come up with a better insult.

“ _I’m_ an idiot?” Claire asks. “You’re the one who goes around causing problems and then expects everyone to worship him when he gets something right.”

“For someone with sensitive hearing, you’re not very good at listening,” Rob snaps back.

“You are insufferable,” Claire says. “Arrogant. Big headed.”

“Small minded.”

“You never think about the consequences.”

“You never listen to a word I say.”

“Shut up!” Claire says, suddenly freezing.

“I was beginning to enjoy that,” Rob says, unable to stop the grin that’s trying to break onto his face.

“No, shush,” Claire says quietly, listening. She heard something. She’s sure she heard something.

 _“What did you do to him?_ ”

“This way,” Claire says, grabbing Rob’s hand and pulling them back the way they had come.

 

“Shall I tell you boys a little story?” Bernie asks as he walks. “Educate you?”

He walks ahead of them, not looking back when he speaks. He can hear their uneven steps, Felipe still supporting Valtteri, behind him, and Marco walks behind them so any thought of escape is gone.

“Power possessors hold a remarkable amount of energy,” Bernie says. “The more control a power possessor holds over his powers, the more energy they can store within themselves. We’re still in the process of understanding how this energy is stored. You’ll be on the breakthrough of science, boys. You should be proud of yourselves.”

The corridors are getting narrower now, the doors on either side of them few and far between. Felipe’s trying to commit the path they’re taking to memory, just in case there’s any chance of escape, but he’s pretty sure he’s lost himself.

“What we do know, however, is how to harness that energy.”

They come to a stop at a dead end, and Felipe is sure the ceiling is a little lower here, everything a little tighter. There’s a door in the dead end, the only feature upon it a key hole with a small red light above it. From around his neck, Bernie takes a small silver key, obviously unlike any of the ones on Fernando’s key chain, and pushes it into the key hole. When he turns it, the red light turns green.

“I’ll give you a tour, if you’d like.”

“Would rather go home,” Felipe says, quietly.

“I thought you said this was your home,” Bernie says, pushing on the door and letting them inside.

 

Claire skids into the dead end corridor just as the door closes behind Marco, the green light above the door switching back to red. She pushes against it, but it doesn’t budge, the red light glaring at her in a disapproving manor.

Rob stops behind her. When he realises where they are, he stops breathing a moment, forgetting _how_. Claire notices.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, quietly. There are tears in her eyes and in her voice. They shouldn’t have argued. All her fight is gone.

Rob gently moves Claire aside and tries the door himself, but it doesn’t open for him either.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asks again.

“They said they wouldn’t do this,” Rob says, slamming his shoulder against the door as if that would help. They’d said they wouldn’t do this. But they’d also said they’d leave him alone and they wouldn’t go after Valtteri and none of that has turned out to be true either.

“Do what, Rob?”

Rob shakes his head. He can’t tell her. Not because Ferrari have banned it, but because he really doesn’t know. All he knows is that it isn’t good.

“We need to get inside.”


	40. "Do you want to be useful again?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It all ends tomorrow.  
> But, for now, I'll just leave you with this...  
> :)

The lights switch on one by one as they are lead into the room. The humming of machinery fills the room, the odd buzz or crack breaking the continuous noise every once in a while. Generators, the source of the noise, cover one side of the room, towering over them and reaching up to the high ceiling and beyond it. The boys stop to gape at it, and Marco leaves them to it, knowing they can’t get out of the room.

“Like it?” Bernie asks, having to speak a little louder to be heard over the machinery.

Felipe blinks in response, trying to stop himself being so impressed. When he remembers that this all has something to do with Michael, and possibly with him, that task is easy enough.

Valtteri’s getting heavier as whatever it is that’s wrong with him progresses. He sinks to the floor, dragging Felipe with him, and they sit there, listening to the hum of the generators.

“I just want to go home,” Valtteri whispers.

“Soon,” Felipe murmurs back. He glances over at the door, but he knows that won’t work. They wouldn’t have been left alone if that would work.

“Come on,” Bernie calls to them. “Don’t you want to see what happened to Michael?”

“He cannot stand,” Felipe calls back.

“Leave him there,” Bernie suggests. “Come on, Felipe. This is your time to shine.”

Felipe doesn’t leave Valtteri’s side. Valtteri shifts uncomfortably on the floor.

“Go with him, I will be fine,” he murmurs.

“You are not fine,” Felipe says. “Am not leaving you.”

“Go and find out what happened to Michael,” Valtteri says. “Then you can come up with a way to get us out of this, yeah?”

Felipe laughs a little, glad to see the smile on Valtteri’s face, but he still can’t bring himself to stand. The choice is taken away from him anyway by Marco pulling him up and away from Valtteri.

“This is where the magic happens,” Bernie says, waiting on the other side of the room.

There’s Michael. On a bed. He looks as if he’s sleeping. Peaceful. It feels like forever since Felipe last saw him, but he doesn’t seem to have aged a day. Thin wires are wrapped around him wrists, metal threads follow the bones of his hands, glowing blue in time with the cracks from the generator.

“It isn’t ideal, but it’s powerful,” Bernie says. “One power possessor can manage all this. One _great_ power possessor, mind you. We wouldn’t expect this much from you.”

Felipe gulps and looks over Michael again. It doesn’t look as if it hurts, but he doesn’t trust them enough to ask.

“Imagine the money it’s worth,” Bernie continues. “If this was done on a larger scale. You’re wasted playing those games in the assessments. Here is where the real opportunities lie.”

“Cannot do this,” Felipe says quietly, but he doesn’t think Bernie actually cares about that.

“It’s been difficult trying to create a power possessor with enough strength and control to be of much use,” he says. “Maybe it’s time to try a different approach.”

Marco hurries off, returning with a small bottle of something purple.

“Do you want to be useful again?” he asks.

Felipe peers at the translucent liquid. Small bubbles fizz up from the bottom, but it doesn’t seem to be concerning Marco. Bernie takes the bottle from him and unscrews the cap.

“What Rob didn’t know when he whisked you away was that we were developing a… perhaps cure is the closest to the right word, to what’s wrong with you. You know you can’t control your powers, don’t you? _This_ will make you better.”

He hands Felipe the bottle. Whatever it is that’s inside smells like a mixture of vinegar and metal and Felipe grimaces at the smell.

“Am not drinking this,” he says.

“Really?” Bernie says. “Not even to control your powers? Do you remember what that was like?”

“Am not an idiot,” Felipe says. As soon as he drinks whatever this is, he’s theirs. He’s not doing that again.

“What if we did a deal?” Bernie asks. “You drink this, and we’ll let your brother go.”

Felipe glances back at Valtteri, still sat on the floor where he’d been left, then down at the bottle.

“Really?”  


“We need to go and get Dad,” Claire says as Rob tries fruitlessly to get the door open.

“We don’t have time to get lost again,” Rob says, through gritted teeth.

“Well, this isn’t working,” Claire says, stopping Rob before he can run into the door again. “You’re going to hurt yourself, and that’s not going to go anyone any good. I’ll go and get Dad. You wait here.”

“What did you want?” Frank says, appearing behind Claire. “The kids are back home, safe and sound. You needed me?”

 

The purple liquid is still fizzing, but no more than a glass of cola would. It’s cold in his hands and is as viscous as water. If it didn’t smell of vinegar and metal, and hadn’t been handed to him by Marco and Bernie, he would have thought it was just another soft drink. Except, he knows it isn’t.

“Of course,” Bernie says. “I’m a man of my word, after all.”

Something like a plan is beginning to form in Felipe’s mind. If the drink works fast enough, he might be able to get them both out of this. He knows this isn’t a very likely scenario, but he wants to believe it’s possible. And, if not, then at least Valtteri’s safe.

 

There’s the now familiar sensation of reappearing from thin air and Rob feels the ground return to his feet, inside the room. They spot Valtteri first, slumped on the floor, and Claire rushes over, followed closely by Rob. Her gasp is covered by the noise of the generators.

“Valtteri? Come on, it’s ok, I’m here now,” Claire whispers, pulling Valtteri onto her lap. “Come on, it’s ok.”

Valtteri cracks his eyes open, barely enough energy for that, and tries to force himself to sit up, but Claire stops him.

“No, it’s ok, you rest there,” she says. “We’re going to get you to hospital in just a second. Alright? Where’s Felipe?”

Valtteri waves in the direction he thought his brother had gone in, and Rob jumps up. He looks over just in time to see Felipe down the bottle of purple fizzing liquid.


	41. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is a bit of a let down. I'm not all that good at endings. Feedback always welcome! :)

Susie hasn’t left Valtteri’s side since they were allowed to go in and see him, and Toto hasn’t left hers. Claire has given up trying to get her to go home to get some rest. When she’s at home, she doesn’t sleep. Now, with her hand still clutching her brother’s, she’s sleeping peacefully, her head resting against the mattress beside her hand.

Toto looks up when Claire comes into the room and smiles weakly.

“Niki says you’re going to have to go back at some point,” she says.

“I can’t go when she is sleeping,” Toto says.

“At some point,” Claire repeats. “That doesn’t mean now.”

Toto nods and smiles again, looking down at Susie.

“How long has she been asleep?” Claire asks.

“About fifteen minutes,” Toto says. “Fifteen minutes our time.”

It hadn’t taken them long to figure out how Susie, Fernando, and Felipe had managed to get so far into the building in such a short time, though none of them quite believed it at first. Susie and Fernando both insisted it was true, but it still felt unbelievable, especially to Rob.

“It’s probably best to let her sleep,” Claire says. “I’m doing a snack run. Would you like a sandwich or something?”

“No, thank you.”

Claire nods and goes to leave, then changes her mind. “Thank you.”

“What for?” Toto asks.

“For being there for her,” Claire says, before hurrying off to get the snacks she has promised.

 

“This is all my fault.”

Rob’s on his way back from the toilet when he hears the voice. He stops, just outside the door, and listens. He shouldn’t be doing this, he knows, but he can’t stop himself.

“Is not your fault,” he hears Felipe say quietly. “And does not matter now. Am fine.”

“I should never have come to you.”

“If you had not come to me, we would not have been able to get Valtteri,” Felipe says. “And would never have found out about Michael. It’s ok, Nando. Is not your fault.”

“If I wasn’t so useless, they wouldn’t have tried to take Valtteri in the first place.”

“Is not about being useless,” Felipe says. “Is them, not you. Is not your fault, Nando. Please don’t blame yourself. I am _fine_.”

“Valtteri isn’t,” Fernando points out. “I didn’t pull him out of the state they had him in properly.”

“The doctors said he will be fine when he gets better rest.” Felipe says. “It is ok.”

Rob clears his throat as he enters the room and Fernando jumps up. Rob laughs a little and waves him away.

“How are you feeling?” he asks Felipe.

“Have asked me that already,” Felipe says, grinning. “Am fine. As good as I was five minutes ago, in fact.”

Rob sighs and falls into the chair besides Fernando. “We’re just worried about you, that’s all. And with good reason.”

It has taken three days for Felipe’s body to recover from whatever it was they put in the drink. Three days, and they hadn’t even known if he _would_ recover to begin with. But here he is now, as chirpy as ever and grinning like the idiot he is. Again, Rob finds himself unable to control the smile on his own face.

For the first time in their lives, things look like they might be ok.

“How is Valtteri?” Felipe asks.

“Last time I spoke to Claire, he was still asleep,” Rob says.

“You _see_ ,” Fernando whispers.

“Hey, that’s not your fault,” Rob says. “He’s just exhausted. I don’t think he’d slept properly for a couple of days. That’s probably why you couldn’t pull him out of the state he was in.”

Fernando smiles, but his bottom lip is still shaking. Felipe takes hold of his wrist. As bad as it is, the concoction Marco and Bernie gave him _had_ done what they said it would do. Maybe.

Comforting Valtteri happened before the concoction, Rob reminds himself. The time dilation happened before the concoction. He’s always known Felipe’s a fighter. Maybe he just finally won.

“Thank you,” Fernando says, quietly.

“Will be able to leave soon?” Felipe asks Rob.

“I went to the toilet, not to get a degree in medicine,” Rob laughs. “I don’t know. I’ll ask the next doctor I see, alright? But don’t get your hopes up too much. I don’t want you back until you’re completely healed.”

“I _am_ ,” Felipe complains.

Rob rolls his eyes but doesn’t argue.

“Where are you staying later?” Rob asks Fernando, quietly.

“Frank says is ok I stay with you guys until he speaks to his friend again,” Fernando says, quietly. “I do not know where afterwards. Cannot go back to the Ferraris, though.”

“I don’t think anyone’s expecting you to,” Rob says. “You’re better off without them.”

The fact they aren’t all in prison is concerning enough for Rob, without adding that they might still be able to take in power possessors and pretend to be a family. But it’s going to go to the courts to decide. Rob doesn’t understand why. He knows enough to put them away, adding on top of that whatever they’ve done to Michael, which he should be able to explain, and it should be goodbye to Ferrari for forever. Rob doesn’t understand how _anyone_ can possibly get anyway with this, but it looks like the Ferraris might.

“Know this,” Fernando says. “Is just… will be strange.”

“Yeah,” Felipe says, quietly. “But good. Will be for the best.”

Rob finds it strange to hear his own mantra repeated by the teenager he’s been trying to convince for weeks. But somehow, it still sounds right.


	42. Assessments!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, this is it. Sorry I can't do good endings. Thanks for reading it anyway, and commenting. Everyone's comments have kept me going and if I haven't replied it's because I don't know what to say. I'm just so glad you all enjoyed it. Sorry again about the ending. I did my best.

“You’ll be fine,” Toto tells her as they walk between the Williams family and the Mercedes family on the way into the assessment. “You’ve done fine in tutoring, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, but that’s not the same,” Susie says, quietly. She’s seeing the assessment from a different perspective for the first time as they make their way through the field. The noise is too loud and there are too many people. She’s excited, or she had been until they arrived. Now she’s not entirely sure she wants to do this.

“No, not the same at all,” Toto says. “But not unrelated. You will be fine. I know you will.”

“And how do you know that?” Susie asks.

“Because I know you,” Toto says.

He leans over and pecks Susie on the cheek, causing a roar of laughter from the Mercedes boys behind them, but he doesn’t care. Susie’s cheeks have gone a bright red, the frown that had been beginning to settle on her face gone. Toto smirks at the reaction and slides his hand into Susie’s.

Claire glances behind them at the laughter and grins herself, leaning to whisper in Rob’s ear. “I told you. I think you owe me a fiver.”

Rob rolls his eyes and shoves his hand in his pocket.

Felipe and Valtteri walk ahead, playing rock paper scissors to see who will go first.

“Best two out of three,” Felipe says, when Valtteri’s rock beats his scissors again.

“That was best two out of three,” Valtteri says.

“Best three out of five,” Felipe says.

Valtteri rolls his eyes but obliges, winning again. Felipe groans.

“Better luck next time,” Valtteri says, patting Felipe on the back.

Felipe can’t say he’s _that_ disappointed. Tutoring with Andrew has been going better than it’s ever done before and, even though he’s still struggling with his physical power a little, the non-phys is as good as it had been before the experiments. For the first time in years, he feels ready for the assessment.

And the dreams have stopped.

There had been no hot chocolate allowed in the hospital. And yet, the dreams did not come once. Claire had thought it would be a good idea to try without the hot chocolate once they were allowed home, and it worked. There are no more nightmares.

Valtteri still struggles with them. They’re back to sleeping in the same room, but that doesn’t help when they get caught out in a storm or something. Jonathan’s trying to work on that too. Things will get better.

“Oh, look who’s showing up again,” someone calls. “I thought you had given up.”

Pastor.

Valtteri spins to face his old brother, the smile on his face throwing Pastor off a little and he steps back as Valtteri steps forward.

“I’m back,” he says with a shrug.

“Thought you had gotten scared,” Pastor says, but his voice is wavering a little. Valtteri’s confidence has completely thrown him.

“Scared?” Valtteri says, still smirking. “I do not think you know what scary is.”

The slimy smile that’s usually on Pastor’s face disappears and he struggles to stop himself from looking confused.

“Do you want to go now, or do you want to wait until Susie comes over?” Valtteri asks.

There’s a pause. Pastor considers his options, glancing at the rest of the Williams family making their way over. The thoughtful expression turns into a glare and he turns to march back to his own gazebo, grumbling something about needing protection from a girl.

“Did not think it would be that easy,” Valtteri says, quietly.

“And now you know,” Felipe says leading the last couple of meters to their gazebo.

This time, to make sure Rob has no chance to get any ideas about playing “I spy”, they’ve brought the board games. They’ve been playing Monopoly for a couple of hours when David and Eddie arrive. Michael follows behind them, in training to take the roll soon. He smiles at Felipe and Felipe cannot help but grin back.

“Well, it’s good to see you lot here again,” Eddie says. “Any gossip about why you were away?”

“No, none at all,” Rob says, glancing over at the Ferraris gazebo further up the field. He doesn’t really believe they’ve gotten away with it, but that’s in the past now. It doesn’t matter.

“Right then,” David says. “Susie, first assessment so we’re going to do your assessment separately later on, alright? So, boys, who wants to go first.”

Felipe stands, still a little annoyed that he didn’t push for a best four out of seven in rock paper scissors. He and Andrew start to follow the assessors into the middle of the field like Felipe’s done what feels like hundreds of times before, when Rob jumps up to stop him.

“You know I’m proud of you, don’t you?”

“Rob.”

“No, I mean it,” Rob says. “I’m proud of you and whatever happens today, I’m still proud of you.”

“I know,” Felipe says, quietly.

“Good,” Rob says. “Then you go and show them what you can do, alright?”

Felipe grins and nods, hurrying to catch up with David, Eddie, Michael, and Andrew.

Rob goes to sit back down, smiling at the puzzled look Claire is giving him.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of encouragement,” Rob says. “Whose go is it anyway?”

Frank watches as they continue the game, stopping when it comes to Felipe’s go and they can’t carry on anymore. It’s been a long time since he’s seen his family getting on. He never once admitted it to Claire, but he’d been beginning to think he’d never see his family whole again. Yet here they are. He knows Claire and Rob are both still worried about things going wrong, and maybe he should too, but he’s not. He’s faith in the boys, and in Susie. They’ll keep things together. They’ll make his little empire great again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And urghhh, mushy happy endings, but this one needed a happy end.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how regularly this will be updated. So far progress is ok, but I'm pretty sure the mountain of work I have to do is going to pile on top of me any day now. Hopefully it should be pretty regular.


End file.
